The Last Man on Earth
by Aownr1669
Summary: The continuing adventures of Daryl and Hallie Jane.  Is their bond strong enough to survive new additions to the group?  Rated M for Mature readers, please.
1. Morning

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews on my previous one-shot-turned-full-story. You all are fabulous and so supportive. Your comments made my first crack at fan fiction enormously fun! So...let's continue!

Please remember, HEED the RATINGS WARNINGS! I don't own the WD or any of it's characters, we're all just having a lil' harmless fun. We'll put the back like we found them (it's just that Daryl will have a great big smile on his face...).

Chapter 1: Morning

Daryl opened his eyes. He could hear the birds chirping in the trees outside. It was sometime not long after daybreak. The dim light of the room was just enough to allow him to see her stretched out beside him, laying on her stomach, her hand across his chest, resting over his heart. She was not wearing any clothes and the covers on her side were scrunched down at the foot of the mattress. She was hot again. Daryl smiled quietly to himself. Hallie's hand over his heart felt warm to the touch. She was always complaining of being hot and his usual reply to her was "Don't I know it."

Daryl looked at her stretched before him, her head turned away from him, legs crossed at the ankles. Her skin was pale and smooth, like porcelain. He had asked her once why she didn't go tan like so many of the other girls he knew. "Irish don't tan." she had responded. "We just burn and peel." Only a few scars remained as a reminder of her ordeal. Daryl made it a habit to try not to touch them because he knew she was still self-conscious about them. She still found it difficult to talk about, even with him now. It worried him that she hadn't fully dealt with her feelings, with the scars he couldn't see.

He sat up slowly, carefully moving her hand from his chest so as not to wake her. He touched her long curly hair. It had been still damp when they went to bed last night and now it was tousled and wild-looking. He could remember the cool feeling of it against his stomach and thighs while she was going down on him before they made love. Now it covered her as she slept. He gently ran his hands through it, from her neck, down her back, to where it ended at the top of her ass, just reaching the cleft between her cheeks. He brushed his hand gently down the length again, this time letting his fingers continue a bit further beyond in the cleft. Once more he brushed downward, feeling the soft strands and letting this hand continue the journey, this time moving slowly all the way down, around and under as far as he could, feeling her warmth there too. Daryl closed his eyes and smiled, imagining what they'd soon be doing if she woke up.

Hallie stirred and sighed, making a quiet "Mmmmm" sound at the feel of his touch down there. She loved it when he touched her like this, his fingers gentle and soft. She opened her eyes sleepily.

"Whatcha' doin'?" she whispered.

"Just enjoyin' tha' view."

"Uhm, Bud, I hate to tell ya, but your eyes are shut." she said, rolling over on her side, now facing him, a slight smile on her lips. Daryl opened his one of his eyes and then the other and gave her a look that made her mouth water. His hand was resting on her hip now. She took it in hers and pulled it to her breast. Daryl's hand squeezed softly, first one, then the other. He ran his thumb across her nipple slowly, deliberately, then traced lazy circles around her areola. He moved back to the other breast and continued. Hallie tilted back her head as she closed here eyes and sucked in air, pursing her lips. "God, Dixon." she hissed, her chest heaving as Daryl shifted his position and now used both hands.

Hallie opened her eyes to watch him. His shaggy brown hair was streaked lighter in places from the time he spent in the sun. There was a noticeable tan line where the sleeves of his shirts should have been. "Sleeves get in the way." he had explained when she had once asked. The muscles in his shoulders and arms were well-defined, larger than they would normally have been and he looked, well, amazing. Daryl wasn't a large man but the months spent hunting with the crossbow and the change in diet since the outbreak had made him thinner, leaner. His stomach muscles were tight and cut and just the sight of him made heart beat faster and caused a warmth and ache that started in her stomach and ran south.

Hallie loved how he looked without a shirt. She had made him promise not to go around without one in camp, as well. Hallie had seen Andrea and Carol's expressions one day after they were horsing around at the lake and she'd pushed him in. He had peeled off his soaking-wet shirt as he was walking out of the water, little rivers chasing down his biceps and chest, down his flat stomach, melting into the top of his faded, olive-green army fatigue pants. Hallie had never been the jealous type, but the unexpected look of lust on her friends' faces was enough to kick in her "He's mine" gene into high gear and from then on, she worried to herself about things like that.

Daryl looked up to Hallie and their eyes met. They were darker, more green, smoldering with desire. She bit the lower corner of her bottom lip and closed her eyes, making a whimpering sound. "Don't stop." she whined, her head falling backwards. "Baby, don't stop." Daryl clamped on to one breast with his mouth and at the same time moved on top of her, laying her head on a pillow, his legs straddling her hips. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair and over his shoulders as he circled her nipple roughly, nipping, scraping it with his teeth, exhaling on it, making her moan loudly. She put her feet flat on the mattress and lifted her hips to meet him, her fists clenching the sheets into little balls. "Jesus, Dixon," she said in a guttural voice, "if you're gonna do it, it'd better be now!"

Daryl grasped her hips and flipped Hallie over on her stomach, pulling her up as he rose up on his knees, pulling her to his lap as he entered her. He stretched her arms upward, dragging his fingers slowly, roughly down the insides of her arms from her wrists to her sides, around to her breasts and down her stomach as she reached behind her to hold on to him. With one arm, he held her by the waist, bending her slightly forward, the other plunging between her legs, quickly finding her most sensitive spot, teasing little circles and massaging. Daryl moved slowly at first, gently, thrusting perfectly in time with the speed of his fingers. He watched her long hair fall between them, swaying with their rhythm, watching it brush her ass as she arched her back and moved with him. His hands moved to her hips, guiding her up and down on him, his speed increasing with every thrust.

Hallie's breathing matched his, ragged and fast now, her hands moving down behind her to his hips. With every thrust, Daryl let out a low, throaty grunt, pulling her harder onto him, burying himself inside as far as he could. He rarely spoke during sex, especially when it was like this. Urgent. Almost animalistic. Hallie put her hands down flat on the mattress as Daryl leaned forward and grasped her by the shoulders, his blue eyes narrowed, head down watching himself enter her, pull out, enter, pull out. Faster and faster they moved together until he felt her squeezing rhythmically around him, as she came closer and closer to the edge as well.

"Fuck, Woman, I'm...Oh, JEE-zus Christ..." Daryl moaned loudly, as he exploded violently, his hands clamped on her hips, stopping his thrusts suddenly and letting himself come in waves, jerking forcefully inside her as she matched his intensity with her own. Daryl loved the feeling when he was inside her like this, the warmth of the waves and contractions around him, pulling him in further and further, subsiding slowly, little by little until the feeling was a gentle motion.

Hallie rolled her head back and leaned back into him as he sat back, pulling her with him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Oh...my...god." she whispered slowly, softly, her arms on top of his now.

Daryl kissed the side of her neck, slowly up, then down. He curled his tongue around the tip of her earlobe and nipped gently as she shivered first and then jumped. The fingers on his hand shifted slightly, finding her breast, and rolling her nipple slowly between two fingers. Hallie squeaked and jumped again, Daryl's arms tightening around her further.

"I'm going to scream if you don't stop." she warned him. "Swear to God."

"Go for it." he grinned. "Ain't nobody gonna' come in here. They know better'n ta interrupt a man an' his wife when the door's closed."

"Say that again." Hallie closed her eyes and shook her head.

"What?" Daryl said in a low voice as he sucked on her earlobe, running his tongue back and forth on the edge. "What do ya' want me ta' say again?"

"The wife part." she smiled and turned her head towards him.. "Say that part again."

Daryl looked at her puzzled. "You surprised? You're ma' wife. I put that ring on yer' finger. I tol' ya' it ain't comin' off. Ever. Yer' mine." He buried his face in her hair, pulling her closer to him, twining his legs around her.

Hallie closed her eyes and laid her head on his arm. "Mmm-hmm, yours. All yours."

XXXXX

Daryl and Hallie sat like that for a good while, wrapped around each other after the most intimate of moments between a man and woman. Words were unnecessary. The sun was now fully up and morning noises could be heard from other areas of the building. Hallie was the first to break the silence.

"I don't want you to go tomorrow." she said quietly.

"Gotta. You're gettin' low on chapstick."

"Not funny." she squeezed his arm. "I don't want you to go. I'm serious. I have a bad feeling I can't shake."

"So yer' psychic now? Here. Read my palm." he said, with a gleam in his eye, grabbing himself.

"That's your dick, Asshole, " she said, scooting off of his lap. "and I'm pretty sure I don't need to be psychic to know what it's thinking." She stood up, walking away quickly to avoid his reaching grasp. "I don't think you're hearing me, Daryl. I... do... not... want... you... to... go." she said firmly, pausing between each word.

Daryl stood up and reached for his grey knit boxers and work pants that were draped over the side of a chair. Hallie tried not to look but found herself staring, biting her lip unconsciously. "Stop biting that lip an' lookin' at me like that or we're gonna be here 'nother hour. Asshole's hearin' ya' loud an' clear. He just ain't listenin'." He pulled up the boxers and slid into the pants. "I have ta' go. It wouldn't be safe fer' tha' others if I didn't. We go as a group, 'member? I gotta' go. End a' discussion."

He walked over to where she stood and helped her pull on the long-sleeved sweater, kissing her on the top of her head as it popped out the neck opening. "We'll be fine. We done this tons a' times. In an' out. Easy as pie." he said, taking her chin in his hand and kissing her softly on the lips. "Now c'mon. I done worked up a' appetite. I want some breakfast."

XXXXXXX

Lori stood on the porch next to Hallie, Andrea and Carol. The women were waving goodbye to the four men as they circled the drive and headed towards the gate, Daryl and Glenn in Daryl's truck, Rick and T-Dog in another. On one of their last trips into town, they had exchanged the old jeep for a newer pick-up truck that had been abandoned on the street. It was roomier and held more, a definite plus on their forays into the nearby towns.

Lori slipped her arm around Hallie's shoulders and said "I know you're worried. I always worry. But they'll be ok."

"How can you tell I'm worried?" Hallie asked.

"You're chewing on your thumbnail." Lori squeezed gently. "I've seen Daryl do that when he's thinking about something too. It's so cute. You two are starting to act alike."

"Not just no, but HELL no!" Andrea said loudly. "It it definitely not cute! That is NOT happening! I forbid it." she shook her head. "Next thing you'll have your own crossbow and then we'll all be in trouble!" she laughed.

"No, Daryl's way too much of a male chauvinist to allow that!" Hallie laughed. "Wemmen' don't hunt! Ain't right. Goes 'ginst God 'n nature." she said, lowering her voice and trying to mimic Daryl's slow drawl. "Bad 'nuff they get ta' vote." The women were all laughing now.

"Well, SOMEBODY'S got too much Dixon in her these days!" Carol said quietly, rolling her eyes with a devilish smirk. Hallie's mouth flew open as Andrea and Lori both snorted and started to laugh hysterically. Hallie reached out to smack her friend playfully on the arm but Carol sidestepped out of her way. "Lit-ter-al-leee!" she called in a sing-song voice, as she quickly half-skipped into the safety of the admin building.

XXXXXX

Daryl leveled the crossbow. "Come on outta' there nice 'n slow an' nobody gets hurt, ya' hear?" "Don't make any fast moves." he called out, stepping around the counter at the convenience store, being careful to avoid the broken glass on the floor. "I'm gonna count to three and then start shooting." he yelled.

"Ok, Mister. Don't shoot. We're not armed. We're coming out." the husky voice said. "One of us is hurt and we need help."


	2. Additions and Suspicions

**Chapter 2: Additions and Suspicions**

**Please read and review. Seriously-I live for your feedback! Special thanks to Gurl3677!  
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_Daryl leveled the crossbow. "Come on outta' there nice 'n slow an' nobody gets hurt, ya' hear?" "Don't make any fast moves." he called out, stepping around the counter at the convenience store, being careful to avoid the broken glass on the floor. "I'm gonna' count ta' three n' then start shootin'!" he yelled._

_"Ok, Mister. Don't shoot. We're not armed. We're coming out." the husky voice said. "One of us hurt and we need help." _

There was a scooting sound and the storeroom door creaked open slowly. A small girl with two long dark braids stepped out, one hand clutching a ragged teddy bear, the other raised. Next to emerge was a very large man, who was supported on either side by a tall blonde woman and a dark-haired man. They all looked exhausted, dirty and ragged, definitely worse for the wear. The man in the middle was barely able to walk, and was being mostly carried by the two that flanked him. It was clearly obvious that the man in the middle had been the victim of a very serious gut wound-his dirty, sleeveless t-shirt was stained dark red, almost black and the stain had seeped outward from his abdomen like some kind of macabre tie-dyed effect. The man was moaning and barely conscious. Daryl could tell that he was in trouble. He looked at Glenn, who by this time had lowered his rifle and taken a step back in horror.

"Please, you gotta help us. Big Mike's been shot and he's real bad off." the woman pleaded as they continued to walk towards Daryl's raised bow. He recognized her voice instantly from through the door. It was husky and deep, with a pronounced drawl. Merle would have called it a "whiskey voice."

"Out here. We can put him in the back of the truck. Put the kid in the cab. One of you up front, one in the back with him. Once those walkers get a whiff of him, they'll be coming, so don't stop. Keep your asses movin' and follow me. Daryl said, lowering his crossbow.

"Daryl, what are you doing?" Glenn protested. "We don't know these people."

"He's hurt bad. They got a lil' kid." Daryl said. "Didn't know Hallie either, but look how that turned out. We just have ta' trust 'em 'til they give us a reason not ta'." he said. Daryl turned to the blonde and the dark-haired man. "Don't fuckin' give me a reason not ta', ya hear?"

Daryl and Glenn lead the group out of the convenience store, down the block and to his truck. Daryl opened the truck door and lifted the little girl in and told her to get down and not to get out of the truck for anything. They helped the other two lift Big Mike up into the bed of the truck, moving boxes and cartons of scavenged items out of the way to make some room. The skinny, dark-haired man jumped in the truck and motioned for the tall blonde woman to get into the cab as two walkers advanced from the sidewalk, moving fast between two abandoned parked cars, their meters still flashing "Expired." Daryl took out the walkers with one shot each and climbed into the truck. He and Glenn climbed into the truck with the woman between them, the girl curled up in her lap, her hands over her ears, eyes shut tightly.

About a block down, they met T-Dog and Rick coming the other way. Daryl rolled the window down. "Gotta get back to camp fast." he said. "Found some survivors, one of 'em's been shot." Rick and T-Dog shot each other a worried look.

"How many?" Rick said. "Were they armed?"

"Three and a kid. Don't think so." Daryl said, rolling up the window and gunning the truck.

At the edge of town, the blonde finally spoke.

"Thank you for saving us." she drawled, turning to Daryl and putting her hand on his right arm. Daryl had been stealing glances at her as he drove. She was tall, about five-nine, with long legs and shoulder-length blond hair. She was thin, but still had a nice rack that she was obviously very proud of. Daryl figured her to be about 30. She was dressed in skin-tight jeans, a red halter top and red snakeskin cowboy boots. Her fingernails were painted the same shade of red as her boots. Daryl smirked to himself. Merle would be all OVER her in a heartbeat, he thought. Just his type. Tall and trashy. "My name's Verna..." she cooed as she stroked his arm. Daryl looked at his arm and then looked into her pale blue eyes. "...and you are?"

"Daryl." he said flatly, hoping that she'd get the hint about the arm thing. "That's Glenn." he said tossing his head towards the passenger seat.

Verna turned to Glenn. "Why Glenn, ain't you just the cutest lil' thing. Wherever are you from?" she purred. Glenn's face light up. "Atlanta, M'am." he said, sitting up straighter. "Right here in Atlanta, born and raised."

"Well, I'll be." she continued. "What a coincidence. So am I." Verna looked Glenn up and down, not being subtle about it at all. "So what are two handsome gentlemen like yourselves doing in a place like Daughtry, Georgia?"

Glenn turned into Mr. Information right about then. He told her just about everything on the ride back. How many, who, where they were from, how the went into towns regularly to gather supplies. He even told her how Daryl had found Hallie on one of their trips into a town.

"Why Daryl." Verna said, turning to him, rubbing his thigh. "You're a regular knight in shining pickup truck! You've rescued TWO damsels in distress. I can't wait to meet your other rescuee." she dripped.

Daryl lifted her hand off his leg and studied her. Maybe she's just desperate and scared, he thought to himself. Doesn't look like she would be able to take care of herself, she probably gotta hook up with a man to be safe. Still, he knew if Hallie saw Verna put her hands on Daryl right now, there would be a fight. Verna turned her attention to Glenn now. "Why Glenn, how about you? Have you ever rescued a lady before today?" Daryl looked at Glenn and smirked. Glenn was smiling from ear to ear and hanging on to Verna's every word.

"Verna, ain't you gonna' tell us 'bout the kid?" Daryl said, interrupting Verna and Glenn's flirting.

"Oh, sure. Her name's Monica. Her parents were with us when they was killed. Walkers. Right in front of her eyes, poor thing. We've been taking care of her ever since. She's a good girl, isn't that right, Monica." she said, patting the little girl's hands. The little girl looked at Verna, wide eyed.

"Hi Monica!" Glenn bent to make eye contact. "I like your bear. Does he have a name?"

Nothing.

"My name's Glenn. That man there that's driving, he's Daryl." Glenn continued. "We're going to take you to our camp. There are two other kids there, so you'll have somebody to play with."

Still nothing.

Glenn and Daryl exchanged glances and both looked back at the road.

XXXXXXX

When the two trucks arrived back at camp, there was a frenzy of activity. Rick barked for Lori to get the first aid supplies and meet them in the mess hall. Glenn lifted Monica out of the truck and called for Sophia and Carl to come help keep an eye on her. Daryl parked his truck beside the mess hall and the men carried Big Mike to a table nearest the door. Hallie and Andrea and Carol stood back, out of the way.

Dale took charge of the first aid situation, cutting off the big man's shirt and cleaning the wound, trying to get a good assessment. The skinny dark-haired man seemed to hover and was quick to answer questions about how long ago Big Mike was shot, where, what they'd tried to do to get him patched up. Verna stood next to Glenn, who was considerably shorter than her, and wrung her hands a lot while whining "Do something."

Mike was a big man-at least six foot four and large-well over 200 pounds. He was obviously a biker, based on his tattoos and the colors on the back of his sleeveless leather vest. He had reddish-blonde hair and a big beard and seemed to be in his late 30's. His hair was greasy and pulled back into a scraggly pony tail that threaded out when it reached the middle of his back. Daryl assumed that they'd either be best friends or mortal enemies in the real world; there probably wasn't a lot of gray area with Big Mike.

Dale called the men over to a corner. "Fellas, there's not much I can do. He's got a high fever. His heartbeat is irregular and his wound looks and smells like there's a considerable amount of infection. I don't think he's going to last a long time, probably not even through the night. I'm sorry. I'm not a doctor. I don't think even if I could extract the bullet, we have the right antibiotics to treat the infection. It's just gone too far. The best we can do at this point is make him comfortable."

Hallie was leaning against the back wall of the mess hall when the group broke up and Daryl walked over. "Hey." she said.

Daryl took another step and backed Hallie into the wall, his hips pressed against her. He put his arms flat on the wall on either side of her shoulders and leaned in and kissed her long and hard. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, not saying a word.

"So it's bad, huh." she said quietly. She knew the others were watching, especially the tall blonde who had been eyeing her warily since they arrived. Hallie noticed she was looking at them now too.

Daryl shook his head slowly. 'Dale says he's too far gone. Won't last the night." he whispered.

"Damn. Who is he?"

"Don't really know." he said, running a hand through her hair. "Kinda' won't matter soon." he shrugged.

"Still, there are three others we need to know about."

"Yup, he said slowly, as he and Hallie both turned their heads and looked to the skinny man and the tall blonde. "Reckon so."

XXXXXX

Carol and Lori decided the best thing to do was to make a meal, even though nobody really seemed hungry, mainly because it got them the hell away from the drama unfolding in the other part of the mess hall. They went into the kitchen and started to work. Hallie joined them after a few minutes. Neither of the four said anything for a few minutes.

"Well, is anyone else going to say it?" Andrea asked quietly, as they leaned over a table, opening cans and kneading biscuit dough.

"What the fuck?" Hallie said. "Would that be the phrase you're looking for?"

"Yeah, that pretty much says it all." Carol agreed. "What are we going to do with four more people in camp?"

"Three, according to Dale. We'll get by. Besides, we don't even know if they'll stay...in fact, we don't even know their names yet." Hallie said.

"We don't even know if we can trust them." Lori whispered.

XXXX

They learned over the course of the evening that the new people had not been together all that long. They were all survivors from the same small town. The tall man with the dark hair was Ted. He was an insurance agency by trade. He looked the part, Hallie thought to herself. Ted was maybe 35, tall and thin, average looking all around, the only exception being a somewhat hooked nose. He had no accent to speak of. He said that his company had moved him a few years ago from the Midwest, where he grew up, to the Atlanta area. He looked like an off-duty insurance man, to boot. He had on dirty Dockers, with a navy blue polo shirt and deck shoes. His pants hung at his waist, held up by a belt that was pulled so tight it made the waistband of the pants pucker.

The woman, Verna, was a real character. She had lived in Atlanta all her life, except when she move to Daughtery with her most recent soon-to-be-ex-husband, as she put it. She was three-times divorced and seemed to have an air of easy to her. She flashed her hands when she talked, her red nails taking center stage. Her hair was bleached blonde, with a bit of dark roots showing. Hallie supposed Verna would be classified as pretty or hot by most standards, with the long legs, the ample breasts, the hair. To Hallie, she looked harsh- like she was trying just a bit too hard.

Verna made sure that everyone understood she was not WITH Ted or Big Mike, although she did know Big Mike "in a past life." Hallie had to bite her lip at that one, wondering if she was speaking literally or figuratively and wondering more if Verna would even understand it if she asked. When Verna spoke, which was often, Hallie noticed she looked at everyone but her. Hallie also noticed that when the group's attention wasn't focused on Verna, Verna's eyes were on Daryl. More than once she caught her looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Daryl was sitting next to Hallie on a bench, his foot hooked around hers. Hallie put her left hand on his knee, her fingers out towards Verna, so she could see the gold band. Subtle message sent, she thought to herself, as she squeezed his knee.

Big Mike turned out to be a local biker, no big surprise there, Daryl thought. He had been out of town when the trouble started and had returned to find his gang dead or walkers, his family gone and the town in shambles. Ted explained that they got together as a group just by he and Verna stumbling upon each other, then they met up with Monica and her parents, and then after they died, Big Mike joined them. They were just trying to survive, same as the rest.

"Well, I'm gonna ask, since nobody else has the guts." Daryl spoke during a lull in the conversation. "Who shot the big guy?"

Ted lowered his head, his face going pale. "That would be my fault." he said slowly. "It was totally an accident. We were in a restaurant and a walker surprised us. I was holding Big Mike's gun and the walker was between us. He hollered for me to shoot it and...I did. I've never fired a gun before. I didn't know what I was doing. I pulled the trigger and the walker moved and so I pulled the trigger again and I...I..." he took a deep breath, obviously shaken, "I hit Mike in the stomach. I feel so bad. He's going to die and it's all because of me. I killed a man." Ted's voice was a whisper now and he looked like he was about to cry.

"Fuck." Daryl said slowly. Hallie kicked his ankle. She motioned her head towards Ted, silently urging Daryl to say something...anything. "Man, that sucks." he finished. Hallie rolled her eyes and gave him a look of disbelief. Daryl shrugged-he really didn't know what to say. Ted was pretty much a fucking idiot by his standards.

"Ted, it was an accident. It could have happened to any of us. You didn't mean to, I'm sure." she said, getting up and moving to kneel in front of him. "It's ok. We all understand. These are not normal times." she put her hand on his. "It's ok." she repeated.

XXXXX

Big Mike died a couple hours later, giving up his last breath with an eerie rattle and a long, protracted groan. The kids were safely tucked in bed, with Monica joining Sophia and Carl in the girls' room with Carol, to keep them from having to watch. The other adults were in the mess hall, watching and waiting. They all knew it would be soon. Everyone spoke in hushed tones until it happened. Dale was with him at the end, checking his pulse and making the confirmation of what they all knew to be true. Verna had positioned herself between Glenn and Daryl and when Dale announced Mike was gone, she began to cry and sob, leaning first on Glenn and then moving to Daryl. Hallie looked at him and narrowed her eyes just enough for him to see her displeasure with Verna's familiarity.

The men carried him outside, to a deep grave they had dug, well beyond the back of the garage. No one said anything meaningful for the stranger. When they returned, they sat in front of the fire in the administration building, passing around a bottle of some generic whiskey that Glenn had found earlier that day. Conversation was low and subdued.

The sleeping arrangements were easy enough-Monica and Verna with the women and kids, Ted in with the men. Verna watched as Daryl looked at Hallie with raised eyebrows and they both stood up and walked down the hall, his hand on her lower back as they left the group. Verna frowned slightly until she realized that Andrea's eyes were on her.

XXXXX

Hallie realized that here hands were tied up and pulled over her head. She struggled as she heard the door squeak open slowly and then clank shut. She closed her eyes and realized at once who it was. She could smell him before she could even see him, the acrid stench of stale cigar like a cloud around him, announcing his arrival before he was there. She felt something cold on her leg, moving slowly from her calf, up past her knee and to her thigh. It moved to the other thigh and back down, just as slowly.

"Say my name." the voice said. "Say my name like you mean it."

"Lloyd." she squeaked. Hallie knew what was coming.

"No." The knife sliced lightly on her calf and Hallie felt the warmth of the blood trickle down the back of her leg and run off. "Say it right. Say it, Bitch, or I'm going to cut off all that hair."

"Lloyd" she said softly, trying not to scream.

"Now, Lloyd, what have I said." the calm voice from outside the cell in the darkness. "You ain't gonna like the way she looks without hair and neither will I, so don't even threaten her with that. I told ya I'll use that knife on you if you do anything to her hair, you sorry bastard."

"Fuck, Em, I was just having a little fun. I know you don't want me to cut her hair." Lloyd said, like a little kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I was just trying to get a rise out of her."

"Well, just fuck her and get on it with. I'm tired of listening to the two of ya'." Emerick said, his feet up on the desk, thumbing through a Penthouse with a beer in his hand. "I might jes' take a turn tonight." he said, pulling out the well-worn centerfold.

Lloyd turned his knife and his attention back to Hallie, who was crying now. He held the knife to her throat. "You heard the man." he sneered. "Let's get on with it." Hallie shook her head and looked at him, searching his black eyes for some kind of mercy, some bit of empathy. Lloyd pulled back and doubled his fist, hitting her squarely in the jaw. "Sorry, Red. Had to do it," he said, "Em's tired of listening to you scream."

Hallie bolted upright, her own scream waking her up. Daryl jumped up with a start and grabbed her, holding her tightly. "Hal. What's wrong? Are ya' hurt?" He looked at her. She was crying now, sobbing into his chest. "Baby, what's wrong. Was it a dream? Are ya' ok?"

Hallie couldn't speak through the sobs. Finally she choked out. "Lloyd." Daryl held her tighter when he understood.

"I got ya'." he smoothed her hair and rocked her back and forth on his lap. "I got ya'. S'ok. 'S all ok." he repeated over and over until the sobs stopped and he felt her relax in his arms. "Nobody's gonna' hurt ya' ever again. I promise." he whispered in her ear. Hallie didn't hear. She had fallen asleep again.

_Autho's note: Now, do yourself a favor and go read Gurl3677's amazing stuff._


	3. Sleepless

**Thanks for the reviews. Keep 'em coming and I'll keep writing.  
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**Chapter 3: Sleepless**

Hallie threw the empty coffee cup into the stainless steel sink, breaking it into a hundred pieces. "NO!" She said emphatically. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to deal with it. I don't even want to THINK about it. It's over. End of story." she said, turning to face Daryl, who had followed her in from the table. "Drop it." she said, looking up at him, her green eyes were on fire with anger.

"I ain't gonna. Ya' had a nightmare last night. Ya' woke up screamin. Ya've never done that before. That stuff's botherin' ya' an' ya' gotta deal with it."

"It was just a dream. That's all." she said, skirting around him and heading for the door. "I'm asking you to drop it."

He caught her by the arm as she tried to pass him and spun her around to facing him again, a little harder than he intended. She had to put out her hands to avoid bumping into his chest.

"What the fuck, Daryl?" she said loudly.

"Lookit..." he said, pulling her into him, "ya' gotta' deal with it sometime." He leaned down to try to kiss her, but she pushed him away.

"No, I don't." she said, bolting for the door.

Daryl was concerned. He knew from Merle what not dealing with problems could do to a person. He could only imagine what Hallie had gone through and knew that there was bound to be damage of some sort. Physically she seemed to be ok. Emotionally, well, that might take months or years to rear it's ugly head. Daryl grimaced when he thought about the two men who hurt her, wishing he could kill them all over again. Daryl stood there for a better part of a minute until he heard someone clear their throat from behind him.

"Trouble in paradise?" Verna said in a syrupy voice.

"No. " Daryl said, turning around to see her leaning on the wall in a corner, one hand on her hip. She flipped a hand up to inspect her nails.

"Sounds like that girl's got problems and all you're trying to do is help her."

Daryl frowned "Stay out of it." he said flatly, walking towards the door. "T'ain't nobody's business."

XXXXX

Hallie flew out of the mess hall and ran down the walk to the porch of the administration building. She sat down on the front steps and put her head in her hands. She tried to will herself not to cry, but the tears came anyway. This was not their first fight; it would definitely not be their last. She knew he was right, but damn him for pushing. Did he not know how much it hurt to even think about it? She couldn't possibly tell him what had happened, what they did. What if he wouldn't understand? What if he decided he didn't want her anymore, didn't want "damaged goods? " She had lost everything she had known and she wasn't about to lose the one good thing she had, the one thing that gave her a reason for not finding the nearest walker and offering herself up for a meal.

Dale sat down next to her and rubbed her shoulder softly. He didn't say a word. After a few minutes, Hallie was able to speak without sobbing.

"I think I've cried more since I met Daryl than my entire life before." she smiled a little. "How can that be when I love him so much?

"Love isn't all it's cracked up to be." he said. "It's hard work. It takes a lot of effort and feelings get hurt...a lot."

"I know that he loves me." she said.

"Any of us could tell you that. That's clear. He's not the same Daryl as before. You've changed him. " he said, patting her arm. "For the better."

"He wants me to deal with something I don't want to deal with." Hallie said. "He's worried about me, but there's nothing to worry about. I just need to forget what happened and let it go."

"He's concerned. Hallie, we all are. I know what you're referring to and Daryl is absolutely right on this. You went through unimaginable trauma and then more with Merle and Arliss. You've barely had time to catch your breath since you came to us. Now that things are calming down, your mind's not occupied with the life and death stuff and it's got time to process what it's been putting off processing." Dale continued. " Soldiers, law enforcement professionals, doctors and nurses, everyone who deals with trauma, they all have to be careful of this. " Dale's voice was soft and comforting to Hallie.

"I know, Dale, but I can't talk about it to Daryl. I don't even want to think abut it. "

"Then find somebody that you CAN talk to. Don't talk about what happened, just talk about how you feel. It'll get easier. You'll feel better. "

"You promise?"

"Promise" Dale said, kissing her on the forehead.

"Dale, how'd you get to be so damn smart?" Hallie asked him.

"Years of practice." he smiled.

XXXXX

Andrea closed the door to the girls' room and walked to the couch in front of the fire. Carol and Lori were sitting in chairs, folding laundry. Verna was sitting on the couch with a pile of socks, matching pairs.

"So, tell me everything I should know about the rest of y'all.' Verna snapped her gum.

"Not much to tell, really. " Carol said. "You've met everybody. Pretty much what you see is what you get."

"Glenn seems nice. He's a real cutie." Verna mused.

"Glenn is a sweetie. Very helpful. Knows his way around Atlanta like the back of his hand. He's like everybody's kid brother." Andrea said. "We're all very fond of Glenn."

"T-Dog attached?" Verna asked, throwing a matched pair of white men's socks in the basket in front of them."

"No. He's not with anybody. " Lori said cooly. "Why?"

"He just seems like a nice guy. Plus, he's got those big muscles. I like men with muscles." Verna cooed. "What's the story with the old guy. What's his name, Dale?"

"Dale is a widower. His wife died of cancer before the outbreak. " Andrea said calmly. "He's a wonderful person."

"He seems like the fatherly type. You two close?" Verna looked at Andrea.

"Yes." Carol and Lori both chimed in as Andrea said "No."

"Well," laughed Verna. "I guess that answers that. Lori, I know you and Rick are married and Carl's your little boy." she changed the subject quickly.

"What about you and Ted, Verna?" Carol interjected. "Are you two a couple?"

"Heavens NO!" Verna waived her hand in front of her face. "He's not my type. Much too much of a wimp. He wasn't even my insurance guy back in Daughtry!" she laughed. "Now, Carol, I heard you lost your husband not too long ago. Walkers, right? I'm so sorry. It must be so hard for you." she feigned sincerity.

"Yes. It is. But it gets a little easier every day." Carol looked down, feeling guilty for not feeling worse than she did. She'd never told anyone but there was a part of her that was relieved that Ed was gone. A large part. She was lonely and scared, but frankly, lonely and scared trumped bruised and battered any day.

"You poor thing. I'll say a prayer for you every night." Verna was really turning it on now. "So... that just leaves the other two, right. Daryl and what's-her-name?"

"Hallie." all three of the woman answered in unison.

"Right. What's up with her? She seems, oh, I don't know...troubled."

"She'll be fine. She's just gotta work some things through. She had some really awful stuff happen to her which we are not going to delve into." Andrea said firmly, more as a mandate to the other two women. " She's a wonderful person, very kind and warm and well, she keeps us in stitches all the time. She's just not been herself these past few days. She'll be ok."

"Well, if I were here, I'd get my head on straight and take care of my man." Verna said looking casually up at the ceiling. "They had a big ol' fight this morning in the kitchen. She threw a coffee cup and broke it and screamed at him to leave her alone. Poor guy, just looked so sad. I don't think he even knew what she was mad at him for."

"They 're both pretty hot-headed. Daryl probably deserved it, whatever it was." Lori smiled. "I'm sure they'll work it out."

"Yeah, they will. I've never seen two people so opposite be so in love. From day one when Daryl found her and brought her back to camp." Carol sighed.

"Well," Verna snapped her gum and threw another pair of socks into the basket. "It'd be a darn shame for them to split up, then."

XXXXXXX

Hallie wrapped the blanket around her and sat down on the couch. The others had long since gone to bed and Daryl was snoring quietly, having went to sleep quickly after they made love. Four more times over the past week and a half, she had nightmares, waking up drenched in sweat and crying out. Hallie sensed Daryl's concern was turning into frustration and anger, but she didn't know what to do to stop it. The only thing she could think of was to not sleep. If she didn't sleep, she wouldn't have nightmares. So, for the past week, she had been slipping out of the bedroom after Daryl fell asleep and reading all night on the couch in front of the fireplace. It wasn't the perfect solution, she knew, but what else could she do? Sleep was not an option at the moment.

XXXXX

Verna commented on how Hallie looked. "Girl, you look like death warmed over. What's the matter? That man of yours keeping you up all night?" she quipped one morning when they were alone in the mess hall. "I'll just bet he can." she said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Hallie almost choked on a sip of her coffee. "WHAT did you say?"

"Oh, I just meant, he looks like the type of man that needs a lot of attention. You know. He's all rough and rugged. He's just about the most manly guy in this place."

Hallie was dumbfounded. "Verna, I don't appreciate your comments. You're out of line. Stay away from my...from Daryl." she said coolly, draining her coffee cup.

"I didn't mean anything by it, Shug," Verna narrowed her eyes. "I was just making an observation." she said, looking straight at Hallie. "Besides, how was I to know? It's not like he's wearing a ring or anything."

"Well, I AM," Hallie hissed and held up her left hand, "and he put it there for a reason. Consider this your one and only warning. Back off." she rose and walked calmly out of the room.

Verna watched Hallie leave the mess hall. She was no bigger than a minute, graceful, with long curly hair down to her butt,. The skirt she was wearing was thin and Verna could tell she was stronger than she looked. Muscular legs, square shoulders. She was quick, too. Verna remembered seeing her play tag with the three brats in the yard, dodging and running, looking more like one of them than one of the adults. She remembered Daryl watching her too, his eyes never leaving her, finally breaking up the game by walking over and hauling her over his shoulder to squeals of protest from Hallie and the kids. "Back off my ass, little girl." Verna said to herself.


	4. Nightmares

**Chapter 4: Nightmares **

Daryl drained his beer and sat it down on the table with a thunk. "So what 're ya' saying, Dale?" his blue eyes hard. "I should just drop it? She's scaring tha' hell outta' me. She won't talk ta' me. She doesn't sleep a' t'all. She barely eats. She looks awful, she's exhausted. I can't just sit back n' watch her do this ta' herself. I can't stand this."

"Daryl, have you heard of PTSD?"

Daryl shook his head. "Shell shock." he said, reaching for another beer from the cooler between them on the table.

"Right. Same thing, just a more politically correct label. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Something bad happens to someone and if they don't deal with, it after a while it comes out later. In different ways. Sometimes it's nightmares, mood swings, depression. Sometimes, it's alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, a pattern of bad choices or inappropriate behavior. Kids who are abused show signs of this, even years later as adults. It happens to people who've suffered all kinds of horrible trauma, or people who work with trauma victims, like health care workers and law enforcement." Dale explained.

"Merle had this. From bein' in the' army. Kicked his drinkin' into high gear when he got back an' then the drugs started. Was suppos'd ta' see a shrink but he refused ta' go. He just got worse and worse."

"Right. Psychotherapy probably would have helped."

"So are ya' saying Hal needs a shrink? Where tha' fuck'r we gonna' get one?"

"We can't. I'm sure not one, but she's gotta start talking. She's holding a lot back and that's what's hurting her. "

"She won't talk to me." Daryl took a long swig of beer, draining half the bottle. "She acts like she doesn't even want ta' be with me nowadays."

"What I'm asking, Daryl, is will you let me try to help her?"

"She won't tell me stuff- me. My own fuckin' wife an' she can't talk to me about shit. What makes ya' think she'll tell you?" Daryl was getting angry now. The fourth beer he had just sucked down probably wasn't helping. "Not entirely sure I'm comfortable with that, Dale. Some of it's personal. Bad."

"I don't know if Hallie will with me, but I'd be willing to try if you're ok with it. Daryl, I promise, I won't pressure her for anything inappropriate. I'm not in this for all the gory details. You know that. I just see you both in pain and I want to help if I can."

"Do ya' think ya' really can?" Daryl asked, his head down, looking up from under his eyebrows. "Can ya' help her?"

"I don't know." Dale said, screwing the top off of one of the beers. "But we gotta try."

XXXXX

Verna ate dinner slowly, pacing herself. She kept watching Daryl. He was by himself. She shifted in her seat and crossed her legs. Damn, he was hot. She looked at his arms, his muscular biceps, his shoulders. His hands were not large, but his fingers were long and nimble. She looked up to his face, the strong, angular jaw, scraggly goatee. The mole over the corner of his lip on the left side made her lick her lips unconsciously. She looked at his eyes. They were deep blue, piercing. Their eyes met and Verna lowered her head, turning it sideways, looking back at him seductively. He looked a bit surprised and quickly looked away. He finished his stew and rose, taking his plate into the kitchen.

"Great dinner." he told Andrea, walking out quickly.

"Thanks. Wanna take a plate to Hallie?" she called after him.

"No." he said without breaking stride.

Verna looked back at her plate and wiped her mouth with a paper towel to hide her smile.

XXXXXX

Hallie looked at Dale. He was holding her hand, their faces about a foot apart. "I'm afraid, Dale." she said, tears welling in her eyes. "I feel like I'm losing him and...and it's all my fault."

"Why would you think that?"

"The way he looks at me now. Things aren't the same. We don't talk. We barely..." her voice trailed off. Hallie wiped a tear with her free hand.

"What does he say when you do talk?"

"Nothing. He yells at me because he says I'm pulling away, he says I'm shutting him out. " she tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat was too big. "I don't know what he wants me to do."

"Hallie," Dale said. "He wants you to be ok. You have to talk to him."

"I can't. He won't love me anymore."

"Honey, why would you ever think that? He found you in that jail. He saw how bad they hurt you. He knows, Hallie. He's not going to stop loving you that, for what was done to you. But you have to be able to talk about it with him."

"Dale, what if he blames me?" she said.

"He would never. There's no reason for him to. Nobody on earth would blame you."

"Lloyd did." she whispered. "He said I..." she shook her head and closed her eyes. "...I wanted it. I liked it." she put her head down, the tears streaming down her cheeks. "He said I let myself get caught because I knew what they'd do and I wanted it."

Dale put his arms around her. "Oh, Sweetheart..." he said, stroking her hair, "...you know that's not true. He was just trying to hurt you more. You know it's not true." he said gently.

"What if he was right?" she sobbed. "What if I did? What if that's the reason I didn't fight back harder?"

"I'm sure you fought back as best as you could under the circumstances. They had all the advantages."

"But what if there was something more I could have done? What if Lloyd was right?"

"You were injured. There were two of them. How could you have fought them more than you did?" Dale said softly.

"I don't know. I don't know. I should have been smarter. I should have been stronger." Hallie said, her voice cracking.

XXXXX

Hallie turned the page of the picture book with Monica and the ever-present teddy bear in the big chair next to the fire. "...and the baby bear said somebody's been sitting in MY chair." Her voice was high and light when she was Baby bear, soft and warm as Mama bear, deep and gruff as the Papa bear. Daryl watched them from the end of the hallway, out of sight. Monica had one arm around the bear, clutching it tightly and her head on Hallie's chest, fingers twisting around a lock of Hallie's hair. Hallie seemed totally at ease, relaxed, like she used to be, before the nightmares. He stood quietly, smiling to himself, as they finished the book and Hallie wrapped her arms around the child, kissing her on the top of the head. Monica closed her eyes and snuggled in to Hallie, still clutching the dark curl in her hand. Hallie closed her eyes and rocked softly.

Daryl tiptoed in. Hallie opening her eyes when he was about three feet from the chair. She smiled a sleepy smile and mouthed the word "Hey."

"You got a lap full." he whispered as he sat down opposite them on the couch. "Want me to take her back to bed?"

"No. I stay here." Monica said, not opening her eyes.

Hallie giggled. "You big faker." she said softly, "You're not asleep at all."

"Another story." the little girl said, opening her eyes and sitting up. "Curious George."

"Oh, no, that monkey gives you all kinds of bad ideas. He's too silly for bedtime. Tomorrow, I promise. But right now, young lady, you're going to go to your own bed and you're going to go to sleep and have wonderful dreams of fairy princesses and castles and princes on white horses and everything will be happy." Hallie looked at Daryl and raised her eyebrows. "And Prince Daryl and I are going to take you to your room right now." she said.

Daryl picked up Monica gently and carried her to the door of the girls' room, handing her off to Hallie to put into bed. She tucked Monica in bed, kissed her goodnight and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her. Hallie turned around and leaned on the wall opposite Daryl.

"Yer' really good with her." he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.

"It's easy. She's a good kid. I just feel so sorry for her. Breaks my heart she had to see what she saw."

"She talks with ya' around." he said, hooking one finger in her belt loop and pulling her towards him. "She don't do that with just anybody."

"I guess. Maybe." Hallie shrugged.

Daryl wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Bed?" he asked.

"Sure. I'd like that, your Highness." she said, her arms around his waist.

XXXXX

Hallie pulled the sweater tighter around her shoulders and ran for the Mess Hall. It was early. She was still tired, but slept without a nightmare, wrapped in Daryl's arms all night. She leaned against the sink, eyes closed, waiting for the pot of coffee to brew. She didn't hear the door open or Verna slink in until she was standing in the kitchen doorway, red-tipped hand on her hip.

"Well, look who's awake." Verna said. "If I were you, I'd still be in bed with that man of yours. Maybe I'll just crawl in there with him, I'm sure he won't mind. What's the matter? He get tired of you already? Decide he didn't want you no more? Tired of you playing the victim? Did he finally realize you were there with those two because you liked it?" Verna's face was hard, her mouth drawn into an ugly sneer.

"You fucking bitch!" Hallie screamed. "I warned you to stay away from him!" "Shut your mouth, you bitch, or I'm going to shut it for you. Don't you ever look at him again. Don't you ever talk to me again." Hallie took a step closer to Verna.

Verna walked to the drawer and pulled out a butcher knife, dropped it on the floor and started screaming at the top of her lungs, while smiling at Hallie.

"Help me! Help me! She's crazy. She's got a knife." Verna ran out of the kitchen and straight into Daryl and Rick, who had come in for their morning coffee.

Hallie froze. She looked down at the floor at the same time Daryl and Rick hit the kitchen door. The butcher knife lay on the floor at her feet.


	5. Heartache and Heartbreak

**Ok, gang. I know you're out there. Lemme remind you how it works. Read. Review. Repeat. **

**Don't own the WD or any of it's characters, no claims, etc. etc.  
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**Chapter 5: Heartache and Heartbreak**

Rick and Daryl skidded to a stop in the kitchen, looking down in disbelief. Hallie met their eyes and shook her head. "No, you guys, I...I didn't! She's lying." Hallie started to shake. "I didn't touch it. She's LYING!" Hallie grabbed Rick by the forearms. "Rick, you gotta believe me. I didn't." she pleaded.

Daryl reached down and picked up the knife from the floor. He looked at Hallie and then exchanged glances with Rick. "Baby, what happened? Tell us what happened." he said, moving to her side.

"I was making coffee. Verna came in and started in on me and on Daryl. I lost it. I'm sorry. I started yelling at her. I've already warned her once to keep away from him."

"What do you mean she started in on Daryl?" Rick asked.

"The trash talking. How she'd take care of him if he were hers. How's he's..." Hallie stopped mid-sentence. What Verna had said sunk in fully. She knew. How the fuck did she know? Dale. No, Dale would never have told her. How did Verna know anything? She and Dale were alone, there was no one else around. Verna had to have overheard them, but how? How could she have?

"How I'm what?" Daryl asked, his blue eyes dark now, his face expressionless.

"How...you're...how we're...having problems. Daryl, I swear I didn't do this. She pulled the knife out of the drawer and then stared screaming. You have to believe me. I didn't threaten her with that knife."

"I believe you., I believer you, Baby. " he said, handing Rick the knife and putting his arms around her.

XXXXX

Rick knocked on the door of the girls' room and entered slowly. Verna was there, sitting on a bed, crying.

"I, uhm, " he coughed. "I need to ask you what happened."

"She attacked me. THAT'S what happened, Rick." Verna sniffed. "I just went in there to get a cup of coffee. She was there and while we were waiting' for it to finish, I thought I'd make small talk, you know" she said snuffling. "I asked her how she was feeling 'cause Carol and Andrea told me she wasn't herself lately. I was just trying to be nice. She went all crazy on me. Told me to stay away from Daryl, that he was hers. I think she thinks I'm after him."

"Did you say anything else to her?" Rick asked.

"No, I swear. I was just tryin' to be friendly. I've had a feelin' she didn't like me since we got here. I don't know what I did to make her not like me but I didn't say anything wrong to her. I don't know what got into her, Rick." Verna was facing him now, her eyes big and wide, mouth pouty. "I just want us to get along."

"I understand. I think it would be best if you two steer clear of each other for a while. Until we get things straightened out. I'll tell Hallie the same thing." he said, turning to exit.

"Rick?" Verna called. "Please, tell her I'm sorry if I offended her and I want to be friends."

XXXXX

Hallie sat on the edge of the dock, with Daryl beside her. She was throwing pebbles in the water, one by one, watching the circles grow larger as they sank. Hallie could sense Daryl's doubt. She was devastated.

"Look, all I'm sayin' is that ya ain't been yerself lately. If she did say those things, anybody woudda' gone off like that." he said softly. 'I'd a' prob'ly knocked her teeth in."

"So you don't believe me then. There's no IF to it, Daryl, she said some really nasty things to me. She wants you and she's not going to stop. You think it's any coincidence that she only talks to me when nobody's around? I don't trust her Daryl. She's not done with this." Hallie chucked a pebble hard and it skittered across the surface, landing and sinking with a large "plop."

"Hal, ya' know I ain't interested in her. It's just you n' me. Nobody's gonna' change that." he ran his hands through her hair and pulled her face to his. "I love you. " Hallie was struck that he had emphasized "you" so clearly.

"But you don't believe me." she said, pulling away.

XXXXX

Daryl and Rick agreed to keep Hallie and Verna away from each other as much as possible and for the next couple weeks, camp was petty calm. Verna stuck close to T-Dog and Ted. Hallie met with Andrea, Carol and Lori in the mornings over coffee, like always. The conversations never mentioned Verna or Daryl. Hallie noticed that any time one of the kids were near, there was usually one of the other adults within earshot. She hated that, but deep down, she knew that if the situation were reversed, her first concern would be the kids, so she forced herself to swallow her pride and enjoy her time with them. Especially Monica. She was becoming very fond of Monica. They would spend hours playing paper dolls they'd made from card box cut-outs and magazine pictures they'd found. Monica was talking more and more. Dale said it was good therapy for both of them. Monica also quickly got into the habit of expecting bedtime stories from Hallie, usually in the big chair in front of the fire. Hallie never denied her at least a couple stories, no matter how tired either of them were. Monica was quickly becoming Hallie's refuge.

On the rare occasions that Hallie and Verna did cross paths, Verna kept her head down and would only look at Hallie out of the corner of her eye. She also developed the annoying habit of holding her two fists, balled in front of her neck whenever she saw Hallie, as if she was fearful. Hallie knew she couldn't react, because everybody was watching her, watching for signs of hostility, instability.

The nightmares had slacked off, down once or twice a week now. She continued to talk to Dale almost daily. Sometimes they talked about the past, sometimes they talked about books, history, anything in general. He was so easy to talk to and so wise about so many things. Hallie confronted him about what Verna had said and asked him point blank if he'd talked to anyone about their conversations, but Dale denied it. "I would never betray your confidence, Hallie." he had assured her. Hallie truly believed that he had not. But it gnawed at her, how Verna had found out and then twisted Hallie's biggest fears against her.

XXXX

Verna waited until well after Hallie was in the mess hall before she knocked softly on the door of Daryl's room. She had to get the timing just right. She'd never been in there before, not even before she and Hallie had their little showdown in the mess hall. "Daryl? Are you there?" she whispered. She could afford only one person to know she was in there.

"What do you want?" a sleepy voice answered from within.

"It's Verna. I need to talk to you. Please, Daryl? Can I come in?" She put her hand on the doorknob. It was unlocked, so she opened it and stepped inside, uninvited. She looked around. It was neat, tidy, books on shelves along one wall. Daryl's crossbow and a duffle bag on the table. The bed was rumpled and unmade, no doubt Daryl had been last to wake. The room smelled like leather and vanilla at the same time.

Daryl was sitting on a chair, shirtless, bent over lacing his work boots. "Christ. Come in, I guess." he said. "What do you want?" he was not at all friendly.

Verna could hardly take her eyes off of him. His hair was tousled, he need a shave and he was still half-asleep, rubbing his eyes and trying not to yawn and stretch. She could feel the heat rising from below her stomach. She wanted this man all to herself. It was going to take some doin' but he would be worth the work, definitely worth the effort. Verna approached the chair and stopped, wringing her hands.

"Look, Daryl, I know I shouldn't be in here, but I just want to tell you I'm sorry about what happened with Hallie. I don't want to fight with her. I don't know how we got off on the wrong foot, but I really want to be her friend."

"Don't think Hallie's too interested in bein' yer' friend, Verna." he shook his head and brushed his pant leg over the top of his boot.

"I know that and it bothers me. Can you please tell her I'm sorry?" she put one arm behind her back and caught it with her other one, arching her back a bit to stick out her chest. "Daryl, can you tell me what I need to do to make her understand I'm not her enemy?" she said, giving him her best little-girl-lost look.

"Dunno. Think ya' could get outta' here, that'd be a start. She' don't wanna' be friends, Verna. Just let it go. Keep yer' distance n' she'll do tha' same." he said, turning his head sideways and looking at her.

"Alright. I'll go, but please, Daryl, it's important to me that at least you understand." she purred.

"Sure Verna." he said, looking away from her. "Whatever ya' say." Not on your life, Daryl thought. No way was he going to tell Hallie that Verna had approached him with an apology. Hallie would be pissed that he even talked to her, much less let her into their room. She'd probably never forgive him.

Verna walked out of the room slowly and entered the hall. She closed the door and stood there for a minute. She could hear Daryl moving around in the room and then she heard footsteps on the stairs of front porch. She walked a bit further down to make sure it was Hallie and paused to slip off her shoes at the end of the hall. As Hallie came through the door, Verna rounded the corner and adjusted her bra through her shirt with one hand, the other clenching her shoes. She acted like she was a hurry and tiptoed back to the girls' room, keeping her eyes ahead, pretending not to have heard or seen Hallie come in the front door.

Hallie paused, disbelievingly. She closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping that this was another nightmare. She looked around to the seating area. There was no one there but her. She bit her tongue and resisted the urge to start screaming. No sense in giving Verna another opportunity to accuse her of attacking her for no reason. She wasn't sure she could even speak, anyway.

Hallie sat down in on of the chairs. Her mind was spinning. A minute later, Daryl came out of their room, pulling his thermal shirt down over his head, tucking it into his pants. Hallie's heart dropped and she felt like she was going to throw up. He walked around the corner and saw her in the chair. "Leave any coffee for the rest of us?" he grinned, as he continued to the back door. Hallie ignored him, turning her head to hide the flood of tears.

XXXXXXX

Hallie laid under a blanket on the couch in front of the fire. She barely had talked to Daryl during the day. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but it was hard to ignore what she'd seen. She didn't want to believe that he would be at all interested in Verna, but she had seen her sneaking out of their room and a minute later, here he came, putting his shirt on, acting as if nothing had happened. He had to have know that she saw them.

Daryl came out of their room and sat on the floor next to the couch. "Hal, are you ok?" he said softly, brushing his hand down her hair. He loved her hair, the way it curled and waved, the softness against his fingers, the way it swung from side to side as she walked when she wore it up in a pony tail, the way it framed her face and fell on his chest when she was on top of him.

Hallie turned her face away from him. "I can't sleep. I don't want to keep you up. You go on to bed."

"Don't wanna' without ya." he said, laying his head against her back. "Come ta' bed."

"No Daryl."

"Come ta' bed." he said again. "We don't have ta' sleep."

"NO!" she said emphatically, as she pushed herself up and turned to face him. "I don't WANT to be with you tonight." she hissed.

"Fine. Suit yer'self." he said, standing abruptly. Daryl stomped down the hall and slammed the door.

From her bed in the girls room, Verna listened intently and smiled.

XXXXX

Hallie slept on the couch like that, not speaking to Daryl for three more days. She avoided the girls and chose to stay in the mess hall or on the porch, reading a book. She reread the same two chapters in the book a zillion times and still didn't know what she'd read. Andrea sat down on the porch next to her plunked down a beer.

"Ok, spill it. What's up?" she said. "And you can forget about the silent treatment. You can reserve that for Daryl."

"We had a fight. I'll get over it."

"You two have been doing nothing BUT fighting lately. What's the deal?" Andrea pressed.

"Nothing. We're just working through some stuff. You know, " she stopped and scooted the unopened beer back to Andrea, "private stuff."

"Look, we miss you. We miss our old Hallie. We're worried about you, Sweetie." Andrea put her arm around Hallie's shoulder.

"Nothing to worry about. I'll be fine. We just gotta get through some...stuff." Hallie said, trying to convince her friend that everything would be back to normal soon.

"Are you..." Andrea hesitated. "...pregnant? Is that it?"

"Good God, NO!" Hallie laughed. "I am most definitely NOT pregnant!" Hallie continued to laugh. "Oh, Andrea, that's funny. You thought this was hormones? That's PRICELESS!"

"Well, then what is it because you're not acting normal." Andrea frowned.

"What it is..." Hallie said, standing up to leave, "is private."

XXXXX

Hallie picked up the basket of dirty laundry and set it down on the chair. That was one thing she was appreciative of. Daryl didn't leave his dirty underwear and socks laying around the room. He always managed to hit the basket. Things were a little bit better now. Still tense, but at least they were speaking...and sleeping in the same room. Daryl had forced her into their room and made her lie with him on the bed with him until she talked. It took four hours but they finally talked. Somewhat. She told him she was worried about their relationship. That she was losing her mind. She told him she was afraid that he was getting bored with her. He told her she really was losing her mind if she thought that would ever happen.

Hallie didn't confront him about what she had seen on that morning. She didn't mention it. The biggest part of her didn't want to believe it, let alone hear him admit it was true. She was not ready for that yet. He certainly didn't act like he was feeling guilty about anything. Hallie didn't want to bring it to a head because once it was out and he knew that she knew about him and Verna, she was sure that they would be over. They'd both say things that they wouldn't be able to forgive or forget and she would just push him towards her in the end. It was going to happen, but she wasn't ready yet. She wasn't strong enough for it yet.

In the end, they wound up making love. It was fast and hard with an intensity that she'd never seen from Daryl before. When they were done, he pulled her to his lap and started all over again, this time the polar opposite. Slow, gentle, caressing. Pacing himself, making sure they both came at the same time, their foreheads pressed together. Whispering her name, telling her how much he loved her, over and over. She cried when they were finished because she desperately wanted to believe him.

Hallie reached into the pocket of his Levi's and pulled out her hand, surprised. Daryl wasn't one to leave things in his pockets, as a rule. He'd been gone the entire day before, out hunting. Lord knows what she was about to find, she thought to herself. She stuck her hand in again-something square, soft and slick with a familiar feel. She pulled out her hand and sank to her knees on the bed as the contents of the pocket fell from her fingers, landing in front of her on the mattress. Gold and black writing. Gold foil. Two inches square. One still unopened. One ripped, jagged across the top, it's contents missing. Condom.


	6. Plans in Motion

**WARNING: Bad Language and Adult Situations Ahead. Heed the Rating, please!  
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**Sorry about the lack of walkers... maybe down the road... (no pun intended). Thanks for the reviews. Keep 'em coming. Y'all were so nice, I thought I'd get another chapter done p.d.q., just 'cause I love ya!  
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**Chapter 6: Plans in Motion**

Hallie was shaking. Here were no words to express her emotions. Rage. Hatred. Blind anger. She was seething. She shook her head. "No. No. No." she said. "I'm so stupid. How can I be so stupid?" She stood up, picking up the two wrappers and placing them in her pocket. She started to turn to walk, but her knees buckled and she barely was able to catch herself on the chair and sit down without falling. She put her head in her hands and began to laugh loudly. "Fucking bitch." she giggled. "You fucking BITCH!" she repeated.

XXXXX

Hallie looked up at Daryl. "I'm just really tired. You go on. I'll be down later. I just want to take a little cat nap while this place is quiet." She stretched out on the mattress. "I'm fine. Really."

"Bring you something back?"

"No, Baby. I'll come down later and help clean up and snag a bite then. Go on, before it gets cold or Glenn eats everything." she smiled. "Seriously. Get the fuck out of here." she motioned with her hand towards the door.

Daryl shrugged. "I don't like bony women." he reminded her as he turned and walked out.

"No, you just like boning me." she said.

He laughed out loud. "That I do." He licked his lips loudly as he shut the door. She was starting to be her old self again, and quickly. He smiled to himself as he walked down the hall. My girl's coming back, smart mouth and all, he thought.

When the last of the group were well away in the mess hall enjoying dinner, Hallie got up and sprinted to the girls' room. Opening the door, she walked quickly to the dresser and began searching, being careful not to disturb anything. She had to be very careful. She moved next to the bunk next to the wall. She looked underneath, in boxes, between the mattress and frame, under the pillows. She pulled out a suitcase and opened it up. There, tucked inside the cup of an overturned padded bra, was the object she was looking for. Small and rectangular, silver and black. Got you, bitch, she smirked. She hurried to close the suitcase and exit the room before she was discovered. She ran to her room and closed the door, sitting down cross-legged on the mattress, intent on the small device.

XXXXX

Hallie crept out of bed as quietly as she could, not to disturb Daryl. She grabbed a bottle of water from the desk as she went by. Daryl was snoring loudly, taking up most of the mattress and it was impossible for Hallie to sleep with his racket. She felt bad for him - poor guy was dead-dog tired. The men had been chopping and stacking wood all day long and he'd worked his ass off. She shut the door quietly and went to sit down on the couch, picking up a book she'd left on the coffee table. She could still hear Daryl snoring with the door closed. She read for a bit and then wandered down the hall to use the bathroom. She thought she head footsteps, but no one was in the sitting area when she returned.

When she came back, she read another chapter, sipping on her water. She wanted a cup of tea, but at this time of night, that was out of the question. No way was she going to go by herself to the Mess Hall for tea. Hallie's eyes quickly grew heavy. She shook her head and looked around, dizzy. She turned back to the page and tried to read some more, taking another drink to clear her head. The words swam in front of her eyes and the pages were blurry - too blurry to read. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She tried to stand, took about three steps and fell on to the couch. She opened her eyes again and gasped. Verna was standing in front of her.

"What did you do?" she said weakly, struggling to stay awake.

"Night y-night, you little bitch. What's the matter? Don't see colors so good when it's dark? Shoulda' looked at your water better. When you wake up, he'll be all mine." But Hallie didn't hear her. She was out. Verna pulled a blanket over Hallie to hide her temporarily.

XXXXX

Verna walked to the door of the men's room, tapping softly. "Ted." she whispered. "Ted." The door opened, creaking a bit. "Shhh. Teddy. It's me."

"Verna? What...? " the man's sleepy voice. "What do you want? It's the middle of the night." Ted walked out in a pair of flannel sleep pants and a white t-shirt. He closed the door behind him.

Verna pressed him against the wall. "I want you Ted. I've been laying there thinking about you all night. I can't stand it any more." Verna pulled her robe open to reveal a red lace push-up bra and matching thong panties. "I've wanted you since the day we came here. I want you to fuck me, Ted. Now. Here. All night long. Please, Teddy, give me what I want." she said, her hand sliding down the sleep pants to rub her hands on his sleeping cock.

Ted tried to speak but it was difficult with Verna's tongue in his mouth. "Uh, Verna, I don't know...uh...what to say." Ted was more than a bit taken aback. She had never showed an interest in him whatsoever. "I...are you sure?"

"Oh, Ted, take me here. Now."

Ted hated to admit it but he was becoming aroused. It had been over two years since he'd gotten laid and well, Verna had her faults but her looks weren't one of them. He put his hands on her ass. "Yes." he moaned as she continued to kiss him, her mouth open, tongue darting quickly. "Yesss."

"Ted. Close your eyes. I have a surprise."

"What?"

"Close your eyes and open your mouth."

"Uh, Verna?"

"DO it, TED" she commanded, grabbing his erection firmly. "Do it for me and we'll fuck all night like animals. Wild beasts." she squeezed him hard enough to make him gasp and open his mouth. Verna popped the little olive-colored pill into his mouth and closed before he could see what color it was.

"Christ, Verna." Ted said, trying to swallow the pill. "What the hell was that?" He gulped and coughed a bit.

"Relax, Stud, it was just a Viagra. I want you hard for me all night long. You and I are going to have the night I've been fantasizing about for weeks." she purred in his ear, licking him from his jaw to his cheek. " The night you've been dreaming about all your life. Let's go sit down." she said. She turned him and led him backwards while she kissed him roughly and ran her hands all over his chest and stomach.

"Oh, Verna!" Ted gasped. "This is quite a surprise, I must say. I never dreamed..." Verna continued to kiss him and lead him to a chair, pushing him down roughly. They continued to kiss and grope for about ten minutes. Ted realized he was having trouble focusing his eyes. "Verna." he said, slurring his speech somewhat. "Are you sure that was Viagra?"

"Yes, Lover, I gave you one of my last little blue friends because you're so special. I have special plans for you."

"I don't think it's supposed to feel like this." he said. "I think I need to lay down."

"Oh, Ted, I have just the place for you. Sit right there for a second." Verna said coolly. She pulled the blanket off of Hallie's body on the couch. "Here you go Teddy. Lay right down here on the couch." Verna helped a wobbly Ted to his feet and turned him, giving him a push. He fell forward, face down onto Hallie.

Verna worked quickly. She took Hallie's shorts off and pulled off her tank-top. She had to work hard to get her underwear off and out from under Ted. She rolled Ted to one side, pulling down his sleep pants and pulled them off, laying them in a messy pile in front of the couch. She pulled off his t-shirt and threw it haphazardly on the chair opposite the couch. She ran her nails roughly down Ted's back, making ugly scratch marks. She sprinted to the shelves and found the two shot glasses and the bottle of tequila she'd tucked behind some books and arranged them on the coffee table., one glass knocked over with a bit of tequila spilled on the table. She took some of the tequila and sprinkled it on Ted and Hallie's unconscious bodies.

She looked down at her handiwork. Fucking Genius, she thought to herself. For one last final touch, Verna pulled the throw half over Ted's pasty backside and pulled Hallie's leg out and hooked it over Ted's leg. She tiptoed down the hall and to the bathroom, where she had squirreled way her pajamas. She put them on over her bra and thong and returned to her room, pleased with the evenings work. Verna laid in bed and smiled a broad smile. In a few hours, Hallie and Daryl would be history, Daryl would be a free man and she could start in on that little plan. Wouldn't take much, she was sure. He didn't strike her as the type of man who needed a long-term relationship, or that would take long to get over one...and she'd be waiting there to help him get over that little bitch.


	7. Puzzle Pieces

**Hey! Daryl called. He wants you to review this chapter or he's gonna keep his shirt on.**

**Lots of cussing and bad stuff here...rated M as always!  
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**Chapter 7: Puzzle Pieces**

Andrea woke up later than usual that morning. They all did-probably because the work chopping and bringing in the firewood had made them all tired. Good old-fashioned manual labor...sucks, Andrea thought to herself. She threw on a pair of pants and a thin sweater and padded out in her bare feet, heading towards the back door to start the coffee and breakfast. She froze when she entered the main area. Without thinking, she screamed. Loud enough to wake everyone sleeping in the admin building.

Rick hit the seating area the same time Daryl did. "Shit!" Rick yelled as he looked at the two sleeping bodies on the couch. "Dog!" he yelled, knowing what was about to go down. He was going to need some back-up. "Glenn! Get the fuck out here NOW!" he screamed, wishing he had his weapon but half-afraid he'd have to use it.

Daryl looked at the couch. "What the FUCK?" he screamed. "WHAT THE FUCK?" He took two giant strides and grabbed Ted by one of his legs, pulling him off the couch and throwing him down on the floor. He looked at Hallie. They were both totally naked and the smell of tequila was strong enough to make Lori wince when she ran into the room. She yelled at Carol, who was starting down the hall with the kids behind her.

"Keep them in their room! Get them out of here!"

"You fucking bitch! How could you?" Daryl kept screaming. Hallie rolled to her side and put a hand on her temple, still not conscious of what was unfolding around her. Daryl grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her hard enough to rouse her. "Fucking whore! Cover yourself! You fucking bitch whore!" he screamed.

"Daryl, what the fuck?" she said slowly. "Shit, my head." she looked around and blinked several times. "My fucking head." she moaned, putting both hands on her head now.

"Fuck yer' head. Get up. Get outta' my sight!" he continued to scream, as he pulled her up by the arm roughly and shoved the blanket at her. "Get the fuck outta' here!"

Daryl turned his attention to Ted, laying on the floor on his stomach, starting to move slowly turning. Daryl kicked him in the stomach and flipped him over, pulling him up by his hair with one hand. With the other, Daryl began pummeling Ted's face with his fist, screaming "Mother Fucker! I'm gonna' kill ya', piece of shit. Yer' a dead man!" Daryl was absolutely unhinged.

Daryl got in three solid blows before T-Dog and Rick could wrestle his raised arm behind him and pull him off Ted. Ted was awake and had scooted against the chair behind him, cowering. He was now aware of several things - he was very naked, his jaw was swelling, he spit out a tooth on the floor and he had the headache to end all headaches.

"Where am I?" he asked. "How did I get out here?" he said, cradling his head. The pain in his jaw was eclipsed ten-fold by the pain in the back of his head.

Hallie cowered under the blanket, crying now. "What the fuck is going on?" she asked. She looked at Daryl, being restrained by T, Rick and now Glenn. His eyes were on her, burning with hatred. "Daryl, what's going on?" she said, wincing at the pain in her head.

"You fucking whore. You got drunk and fucked him? Out here where anybody could have seen you? Why? How could you do that to me?" Daryl's eyes were red and there were tears streaming down his cheeks. He broke loose and half-fell to the couch. He reached out and grabbed Hallie's left hand and pulled it to him, snatching the gold band off her finger. "We're done." he said, throwing the band into the fireplace. "You fuckin' slut, we're so done." he said yelled, as Rick and Dog pulled him back from her again.

"Daryl, no, I didn't. I would never." Hallie looked around. Oh my god, her head hurt, but not as much as her heart now.

Rick looked at Hallie. "Go to your room and get yourself dressed. Then get back out here. Ted, you do the same. Daryl, go outside. Stay outside until I tell you to come back in."

"Fuck you! You ain't the law no more. I ain't going nowhere 'til she's outta' here! An' she can fucking well take him with her! They're both dead!"

"Daryl, please. Go outside. We have to figure out what's going on." Rick tried to reason.

"You can fuckin' SEE what's goin' on. Everybody can see what's goin' on! My fuckin' wife's a whore an' she got caught. No figurin' necess'ry. Open yer eyes, Sheriff." Daryl spat out the words, opening and closing his fists rhythmically. "Get 'em the fuck outta here, Rick, or I'm gonna kill 'em both. I swear."

Rick grabbed Daryl by the front of his gray t-shirt and pushed him backwards. "I said get out of here. You ain't going to do shit right now. You're not going to do a damn thing except go out on the porch and cool off. Now go!" Rick's voice was tight and hard, matching his expression. "Dixon, go." he growled.

Daryl put his head down and stomped towards the front door, slamming it hard enough to knock a frame of the wall.

Andrea looked around at the men and at Lori and Verna. Verna's eyes were wide but she didn't take them off of Daryl. Lori and Andrea exchanged glances and shook their head. Andrea turned and went down the hall to help Hallie. She opened the door and found Hallie, face down, wrapped in the blanket, sobbing hysterically.

"Hallie, Honey." she sat down and pulled her to hug her. "Honey, calm down." Hallie's small frame was wracked with sobs. She clutched her head.

"Andrea, something's wrong. My head hurts sooo bad. This is all wrong. I can't keep my eyes open and my fucking head is killing me."

"It's probably the tequila, Honey."

"No. I hate tequila. I would never drink it in a million years. Got sick on it in college. Can't stand the stuff."

"Hallie, I understand, but look at...what...look at how we found you this morning. You and Ted. Naked under a blanket on the couch. Smelling like a distillery. You both were passed out like the dead."

"Andrea." Hallie said. "I would never do this to Daryl. Not even drunk. I wouldn't get drunk with another guy and screw him and then pass out where anybody could see us. Jeezus, Monica could have come in and found us. Or Carl and Sophie. Even drunk, I wouldn't. I would never cheat on Daryl. I love him."

"Then tell me what happened? Explain this." Andrea said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I can't remember. I don't remember anything. Not talking to Ted at all. Not after dinner, not any time. It's like last night is a blank. There's nothing there." Hallie said, the sobs starting again. "Fuck, Andrea, I think my head's going to explode. I can't stand this."

"Let me get you some aspirin or something. That'll help. Hal, you need to get dressed. Rick wants to talk to you in a bit."

XXXXX

Ted pulled on a pair of worn blue Dockers and a sweatshirt. Rick sat on the bunk in front of him. "I want the truth." Rick said flatly.

"I'm telling you the truth, Rick. I don't remember what happened. I don't remember drinking anything. I don't remember talking to Hallie. I sure don't remember getting naked or having sex. All I know is that my head is killing me and if that doesn't get me first, Daryl Dixon is sure going to."

"Seriously. You don't remember having sex with Hallie?" Rick thought surely some part of the "man" in Ted would not allow him to brag just a bit, to let something slip that would confirm his suspicions.

"No." he chuckled. "She's cute and if she were available, I'd definitely want to remember that." Ted rubbed his temples slowly. "Fuck. Rick, I don't think we did."

"But you can't remember." Rick reminded him.

"No. I can't remember anything."

"Then you can't say with absolute certainly." Rick said quietly.

XXXXX

Hallie got dressed slowly. It was painful to raise her arms or bend over. Andrea brought her in two aspirins and a glass of water. Her head hurt to even swallow. Andrea helped her finish dressing and walk to the couch in the living area. Rick was there. So was Ted.

"Look. We have a big problem. You two are adults and what you do is your business, but it affects us all when-"

Hallie cut him off. "We didn't DO anything!" she said emphatically.

"Well, it sure looks like it to the rest of us," Rick shook his head, "and more importantly, to Daryl. Hallie I don't know what to do about this. You know him. You know his temper. You know what this will do to him - HAS done to him."

Ted looked at Hallie. She was holding her head and grimacing. "Does your head hurt?" he asked.

"Like a motherfucker." she said quietly. "Yours?"

"Like nothing I've ever felt before." he admitted.

"Rick?" Dale walked up to the couch. "Can I talk to you?" he asked. "It might be important."

"Dale, now's not really a good time." Rick frowned.

"No, Rick. I'm going to have to insist." Dale said firmly. "It's important."

XXXXX

Dale pulled Rick out to the front porch. Daryl was pacing back and forth, smacking one hand with the fist of the other, his blue eyes hard and cold. "Daryl. You need to hear this too. There's something not right about this whole thing." Dale said calmly. "I think Ted and Hallie may have been drugged."

"You're fucked, old man." Daryl sneered. "I could smell the tequila a mile away. They fuckin' passed out."

"No, Daryl. Listen to me. Andrea told me what Hallie said. She has no recollection of last night at all. Nothing. Ted's the same way. They're both are complaining of blinding headaches too. It all fits."

"Oh, fuck this!" Daryl rolled his eyes. "They got shit-faced on tequila. They're just hung over, for Christ sakes!"

"Seriously, Dale?" Rick rubbed the back of his neck. He was skeptical at best. "How would we even tell? We can't do blood tests or anything."

"I don't' think we need to. I know Hallie. She loves Daryl. She'd never do this."

"Anybody'll do anything if ya' give 'em enough tequila." Daryl said sarcastically.

"No. You know it and I know it. The signs are all there. Memory loss, headache, they're both still struggling to even stay awake." Dale shook his head.

"Dale, I hope to God you're right." Rick said, turning back to the door.

XXXXX

Hallie slept for five hours. When she woke up, it was afternoon. Her headache was still there, dull and throbbing, but not as bad as it was. Her mouth was dry. She walked out to the seating area. There was her bottle of water. Perfect, warm but she was parched. She pulled the stopper and started to take a drink. Raising it to her lips, a beam of sunlight from the window hit the bottle, it's contents pale blue. "What the fuck?" she said. Then, as blinding as her headache had been, it all fell into place.

XXXXX

"Get the fuck outta' my sight." he said. "We got nothing ta' say ta' each other. We're done."

"Please Daryl. I know you're angry and hurt..." Hallie said softly.

"Angry? Angry doesn't begin to fuckin' touch it. Ya' broke my fucking' heart. Ya' fucked him. How could ya'?" he bellowed. Daryl turned his head away and was silent for a moment. "How could you do this to me? To us?" he said. Hallie could hear him choking up.

"Daryl. I didn't. You know in your heart I would never do this. I love you." she said. "Please, listen to me. I have something to show you."

He turned back to her. "Get on with it so I can get tha' fuck outta' here. This is the last time we're ever gonna talk'." He sat down in the chair.

"You remember how I thought Verna was after you?" Hallie moved to the bed. She was sitting in front of him now.

"Oh so that's it again? This is all Verna's doin'? I'm outta' here." he stood up. Hallie stood up quickly and pushed him back in the chair with all of her strength. He caught her hands in his and almost pulled her over with him.

"Sit the fuck down, Dixon." she hissed. "You're gonna' hear me out and you're gonna' keep your fucking mouth shut until I'm done." Her voice was low and harsh. Daryl was a bit taken aback. She'd never been so forceful with him before. He released her hand and stayed in the chair.

"I've felt all along there wasn't something right about her. The way she watched you. The things she said to me. Only when nobody's looking. That time in the kitchen when she accused me of coming after her with a knife. She said things to me only Dale would have known." Hallie sat back down in front of him. "She knew things I was afraid of, things I couldn't even talk to you about."

Daryl harrumphed and Hallie brought her fist down hard on the top of his bare foot. "Fucking shut it." she said. "I knew Dale wouldn't tell you what we talked about, much less anybody else. But I couldn't figure it out. Then that night, when I refused to sleep in the same bed with you, a week or so ago? I saw her coming out of our room that morning. The I saw you coming out a bit later. You were putting on your shirt. I though for sure that you and she had..."

Daryl's face turned red. "No fuckin' way. She came in without askin,' sayin' that she was sorry she made ya' made n' show she wanted me ta' help her convince ya' she really wanted ta' be yer' friend. I was still gettin' dressed and I asked her ta' leave, that you weren't interested in bein' friends with her."

Hallie asked, putting her hand on his knees. "Daryl, why didn't you tell me that then? Why did you keep it a secret from me?"

"I thought you'd kill her if ya' knew. Especially when you found out she came in without askin'." he said. "I didn't know ya' saw her."

"Daryl, I saw her leave and then I saw you come out right after, still getting dressed. I put two and two together and... I thought..." Hallie looked down and a tear rolled down her cheek. He reached down and brushed it away. She took a deep breath and continued. "After that, I was going through your dirty clothes and I found these." She pulled the condom packet and the empty wrapper from her hip pocket and put them in his hand.

"What?" he said. "These aint' mine. You found these? In my pocket?" Daryl looked confused. "Baby, they're not mine. I swear. You know that. I didn't fuck Verna."

"I know that. You know that and I know that. But until I saw these, it wasn't clicking." Hallie was smiling at him now. "So I did some snooping." she said. "That's when I found this." She reached under the pillow on the mattress and pulled out a small black and silver rectangle. She handed it to Daryl.

"What the fu- a tape recorder?" he said, examining the device. "What the fuck is going on?"

"It's voice activated." Hallie said. "It's me and Dale. Four hours of us. I found it in Verna's suitcase. Hidden. That's how she knew what to say to get to me. To make me go off on her. When I was at my weakest. She must have hidden it and snuck in to get it after we were done."

Daryl was dumbfounded. He looked at Hallie, turning his head sideways. "What the fuck is going on here, Hal?"

"I told you. She wants you. She's trying to break us up by making you think I'm crazy and me think you're screwing her. When I didn't take the bait finding the condoms, she had to do something else."

"Well, she's sure screwed up with those." he pointed to condom wrappers he'd dropped on the floor beside him.

"No shit, Sherlock." she smiled. "And the best part is, she has no clue yet." Hallie pressed her lips together.

"So, what about Ted?" Daryl put his thumb to his lip and began to chew on his nail. "How does he fit in ta' this?"

"Do you think I fucked him?"

"Well, I was pretty sure ya' did until a couple minutes ago." he pulled the corner of his lip to one side, grimacing. "May have ta' rethink that one."

"You fucking well better rethink it." she said flatly. "Dale told Andrea he thought we'd been drugged." Hallie said. She reached under the pillow again and pulled out the half-empty water bottle and tossed it to Daryl.

He caught it with one hand and pulled the cap out with his teeth, starting to take a drink.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Hallie warned. "Unless you want to end up naked with a strange guy under you."

"What?" he said, quickly pulling the bottle away.

"Look close at the bottle."

"Fuck me." Daryl said holding it up to the light. He looked at Hallie. "What the fuck is in there? It's fucking blue."

"I don't know...but it must be some strong shit." she said, taking the bottle out of his hand. She sat back on her heels and looked at him. He was shaking his head, looking at the floor. She could tell he was trying to make sense of everything.

"This is some serious crazy shit, here, Hal." he looked at her, his eyes soft and blue. Daryl's eyes, she thought.

"I know. Believe me, I know." she paused. "Listen, Daryl, before we do anything else, I want you to listen to the tape." she said, handing the recorder back to him. "I want you to hear it."

"No. I don't wanna.' I can't." he stared at the recorder. "That's private shit, stuff you didn't want me to know."

"It's mostly about you. I'm ready for you to hear it now. Please, it's important. For us." she put her hands on his knees again and rose up. "Before we do anything else, please listen to it, ok?" She stood up and kissed him softly on the lips. "Please, Dixon. Do me one more solid, ok?" she said, walking out the door and closing it behind her.


	8. Busted

**Please Read and Review...**

**Chapter 8 Busted**

Daryl went to his truck to be alone. He climbed in the cab and shut the door. It was chilly now, the sun was setting, and he left the window up to make sure that nobody could hear the tape. He pushed the play button and sat back. It was Hallie and Dale on the tape. Hallie's sweet voice. Dale's warm and soft. There was a kindness to Dale that everyone seemed to feed off of, Daryl noticed. For an old fart, he knew a lot, too. He was usually the voice of reason, as Hallie had often said.

Daryl listened to the entire tape, at times replaying certain sections to make sure that he heard correctly. Hallie expressed a span of emotion from anger and rage to shame, fear, self-doubt. The underlying thread throughout all of the conversations, though, was very clear. She was terrified at the thought of losing him. She talked a lot about Daryl thinking that she was not good enough for him, that she was used, damaged. She felt very guilty for not being strong enough to get away, escape. For not fighting harder. For giving up.

She talked about being afraid to tell him that she couldn't have kids, either. She hadn't shared that with him ever, even when they were getting along. She was afraid to, not knowing if he'd be relieved that they wouldn't have to worry about a baby in these times or whether he'd find this one more reason to leave her. She had female problems when she was much younger and the only resolution was for her to have surgery. She didn't even have periods now. Daryl had always wondered, but then he had heard that emotional stress and stress could knock a woman's cycles out of kilter. Daryl was a little sad at this, not because he'd outright thought about having babies with her, but because she never would be able to.

Dale, throughout the tapes, was sympathetic, kind, understanding, but he also prodded her to give him examples of behavior that made Hallie think the way she did, especially when she expressed doubt about her relationship with Daryl. He was emphatic with her on one point, over and over. Daryl loves you.

When the machine clicked off, Daryl continued to sit in the truck for a while. Thinking. Processing what he'd heard. He was baffled. Hallie. Smart, well-educated, college degree with a good job. Strong and graceful. How could she doubt herself? This beautiful creature of his was afraid she wasn't good enough for him. Him. Trailer park trash, son of an alcoholic, backwoods, uneducated Daryl Dixon. Christ, he thought. The world really has ended.

XXXXX

Daryl left the truck and went inside. Everyone was inside the mess hall except Hallie. He found her in their room, sitting on the bed, face stained with tears. He sat down next to her and let out a big sigh. They both stared straight ahead, afraid to look at the other.

"We got something to do." he said, looking down at his boots. "We gotta do this right now." he said. "Before it gets out of hand. I want everybody to understand something once and for all." he said. He grabbed her hand and stood up, taking her with him, walking towards the door.

"Daryl, what are you doing?" she said, trying to pull away.

"Nope. You'll see." he said pushing the door open with his free hand. "I'm ending this right now." he said, dragging her out.

"I'm not going with you then." she said, jerking her arm back as they hit the hall.

"Can't have that." he said, picking her up and hauling her over his shoulder, like he'd done so many times in the past. "You gotta be there for this." he said, walking to through the admin building and opening the back door.

"Ted, get your ass out here now. Get into the mess hall or I'll kick it six ways from Sunday when I'm done."

Ted stuck his head out of the guys' room cautiously. "What? Uh, ok. Sure Daryl. Are you sure?" He did a double-take when he saw Daryl with Hallie over his shoulder.

"'Mon Ted. Right fuckin' now." Daryl yelled.

"Fucking asshole, put me down right now." she yelled, hitting him in the back with doubled fists. "This isn't funny anymore. I don't want to go in there." Her pleas fell on deaf ears. At this point she was too mad to cry.

"Hallie Jane Dixon," Dary said stopping in front of the door, "Don't ever forget how much I love you." he said, slapping her on the butt playfully. "'N don't let Verna get out of there."

Daryl kicked upon the door of the mess hall with the toe of his boot, creating a huge booming sound. Everyone was seated at tables, eating. "Evening folks!" he called, "We need ta' have a lil' family meetin'. Right now." He set Hallie down with a jolt as the others looked on in shock. "Kids, how about ya' go in ta' tha' kitchen an' grab some cookies. Shut the door. The grown-ups gotta' talk." Carl and Sophia looked doubtingly at Lori and Carol. They nodded. Sophia took Monica's hand and they kids all walked through the kitchen door. Carl paused and turned to look at Rick.

"It's ok, Son. Keep an eye on Monica...and only two cookies a piece." he called to Carl. "Daryl?" Rick said. "Buddy, you ok?"

"Never better." Daryl grinned and strutted over in front of Verna, who was sitting at a table near Glenn. "Glenn, ol' buddy, f' I was y'all, I'd stand back. Fact, I'd get 's far away from that skank as I could."

Verna gasped at the same time Carol did. She stood to rise but Hallie had walked over to stand behind her. "Sit down, bitch." she said quietly and put her hand on Verna's shoulder, firmly pushing her back into her seat.

"Seems like we got quite a mess here, huh?" Daryl drawled. "There's some things think y'all need ta' know. Some real interest'n things."

Andrea and Dale's mouths were open. Lori looked nervously at Rick. T-Dog was sitting on the other side of Verna with his arms crossed, smiling in anticipation. Glenn watched as the color drained from Verna's face.

"Daryl, you sure you wanna do this here?"

"Oh, trust me, Rick, this's mild compared ta' what I wanna' do." He leaned in close to Verna. "Right Verna? You wanted me so bad, well, Darlin' this is me, fuckin' you."

Carol let out another gasp.

"What were they?" Daryl said, looking straight at Verna.

"What were what?" Verna asked, wide-eyed. "What are you talkin' about?"

"What'ja put in Hallie's water bottle? " he demanded. "What'ja give ol' Ted here?"

Ted had quietly come inside and was sitting alone at one of the outer tables.

"I don't know what you mean." Verna protested.

"Sure you do. They weren't drunk. They didn't have sex. I don't know what ya' did or what ya' used but I know ya' did something. I saw tha' blue water."

"Daryl, blue water? Did you say BLUE?" Dale interjected.

"Yup. The water Hallie was drinkin' was blue. Somethin' was in it. And it sure wan't tequila, now was it, Verna?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I had nothing to do with those two sleeping together." she said, flipping her hair as she jerked her head the other way.

"Well, Verna, see, now that's where yer' just lyin'. Ya' DID. Ya' surely DID. But yer' right. After ya' drugged 'em both, that's all they did...sleep. Liked the naked part, though, and the booze all over 'em. That was a nice touch."

"I don't have to listen to this." she stood up and once again, Hallie shoved her back down.

"Sit your nasty ass down or I'm gonna sit it down for you." her voice threatening.

Dale piped up. "Ruffies." he said. "Date rape drug. Rohypnol has been reformulated to color your drink blue so you can tell if you've been drugged. It causes effects similar to severe intoxication. Blackouts, memory loss, severe headaches. She slipped them ruffies."

Daryl shook his head. "Figures. That ain't the half of it." He turned his attention back to Verna. "Yer' good, really good. But ya' ain't that good." Daryl slipped his hand into his back pocket and pulled out the micro-cassette recorder. "Recognize this?"

Verna sucked in her breath. "I have been looking for that all over. Who stole it from me? I demand to know!" she huffed.

"I did." Hallie said. "I figured out you had to be hearing my conversations with Dale. I searched your room and found that. Dale, she hid that and was recording us in secret. That's how she knew what to say to piss me off so bad so she could claim that I pulled a knife on her." She squeezed Verna's shoulder hard. "But that's really not how you screwed up, is it?"

Verna's jaw was slack and her hands were fumbling in her lap. "This is so unfair. I don't know how you can sit here and listen to this, all of you!" she whined.

Daryl laughed and said, "Baby, tell them the best part." He looked at Hallie and smirked.

"Would that be the part where she timed it to make it look like she was coming out of our room in the morning? Fixing her bra and carryin' her shoes?"

"Naw."

"Oh, the other. Yeah, that. Ya know, planting a condom and an empty wrapper in Daryl's jean pocket to make me think he'd been fucking you while he was out hunting was genius. Brilliant. Only one little problem." Hallie paused and looked at Daryl, her eyebrows raised.

"Well, go on. Tell 'em. S'tha' only way they'll get it."

"See Verna." Hallie leaned in over her shoulder, her lips within inches of Verna's ear. "Daryl can't use condoms. He's got this real bad allergy to latex and well, if he'd really used one, we'd ALL have known it. Swells up real bad. Like an eggplant. Itches like crazy. Stops breathing eventually and has to have a shot. Ended up in the e-room the last time it happened when he was in high school. Ever since then, he doesn't touch 'em. He won't risk it."

Verna turned beet red.

"So, when I found 'em in his pocket, I knew I was being set up."

"We were being set up, Baby." Daryl interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me. I'm on a roll." she laughed and turned back to Verna. "When I didn't go off on him, when I didn't break up with him after that, you panicked. You had to do something. That's when you musta' dcided to bring things to a head. Sorry Ted, but you were just a pawn. I don't know how she got you in there, but I can just imagine. She arranged the whole thing. Literally. Probably would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for Daryl's little problem."

"Hey, it ain't so little." he objected.

"I didn't mean THAT, your dork! God, I swear, you men are so sensitive about your johnson. When are you gonna all just evolve? Hallie shot back, making Andrea laugh out loud and slap Dale's knee.

"Hallie's back!" she hooted.

"So, here's tha' deal." Daryl said when he stopped laughing. He walked to Hallie and pulled her to him. He bent her half backwards and kissed her long, hard, one hand under her back, the other on the back of her neck. Right in front of God and Everybody, as Merle would have said. He pulled her back upright so fast it was enough to make Hallie wobble.

He leaned over to Verna. "Now, I'm gonna take my WIFE ta' our room 'n make love ta' her fer' tha' rest of tha' night. Ya' catch that Verna? MY WIFE. Y'all..." he said pointing his finger in a circle at the rest of the group, "can decide what ta' do with this piece a' shit skank. We'll go along with whatever ya' decide. Just make sure she pays fer' what she tried ta' do ta' Hallie 'n me. See ya' in the morning, people."

He put his arm around Hallie's shoulder and turned her towards the door, taking a couple steps before he swung them around again. "Oh, 'n one last thing...Monica. She's prurt' near callin' Hallie her Mama now anyhow. She stays with us. Startin' tomorrow, that is." he said, winking at Rick. With that, Daryl turned again, walking them out the door.


	9. Out of the Ashes

Mature Content Ahead. (I couldn't stand it anymore. Daryl was getting antsy...)

Thanks to you who consistently review and support-you make all the difference!

**Chapter 9: Out of the Ashes**

Daryl put his hand on the small of Hallie's back and guided her down the hall to the door of the room they shared. He stopped her before they went inside.

"You go in, that's it. It's just you 'n me. No secrets, no bein' afraid ta' talk ta' each other, no worryin' about what happened 'n the' past. You n' me, ya' got that?" Daryl had his hands on either side of Hallie's head and her back against the door, stooping down a little to look eye to eye with her.

She shook her head and looked down.

"Look at me." he said. "Lemme hear ya' say it."

"You and me." she whispered, looking up into his clear, blue eyes. Her heart skipped a beat. How did she end up with this man, so strong, so handsome, how did she get so lucky to have him in her life, to be able to love him so much?

"Well alright then." he grinned, scooping her up and carrying her inside. He shut the door with his foot and deposited her on the chair. Kneeling in front of her, he took her face in his hands. "Right now, I don't wanna' do any talkin'." Daryl moved a hand to the back of Hallie's neck and kissed her gently, softly. "Damn" he said quietly, making it a two-syllable word. This time he kissed her more urgently. She moaned slightly and opened her mouth enough for Daryl to slip his tongue inside, probing, wandering, teasing, brushing against her teeth, curling his tongue around hers slowly. He continued to kiss her, his hand moving to her hair, pulling her head back slightly. He moved his lips down her throat slowly, kissing, sucking gently on the soft skin, moving deliberately, slower still to her collarbone. Hallie held her breath as she felt the warmth spread throughout her. She ran a hand through his shaggy hair, pulling gently, the other hand dropping to his chest, grabbing the front of his shirt, pulling him to her closer.

Daryl stopped abruptly and looked in her deep green eyes. They were sparkling, the flecks of gold seemed to glow, the lashes long and dark, framing her eyes with a fringe of brown, making them seem even bigger. He looked down. She was wearing entire too much clothing, he smirked. Daryl put his hands on her thighs and rubbed them slowly, his fingers on the outside, this thumbs on the inside. She jumped slightly as they reached as far up as they could and his thumbs brushed the vee between her legs. He reached up and unbuttoned the top button of her sweater, kissing her hard. He stopped and looked at her again, trying to convey his desire without words. After a minute, he reached and unfastened the next button, kissing her at the same time again. This time, he when he was finished, he ran his tongue along her bottom lip as he withdrew from her mouth.

Hallie was breathing harder now. Daryl undid the third button on the sweater and kissed her once more, this time, his hands moved to her breasts, kneading them over her thin sweater, feeling the lace of her bra underneath. When he withdrew his tongue from her mouth, she sighed and turned her head. "Daryl." she moaned.

His hands moved to her waist, grasping her sweater and pulling it gently over her head. Her hair fell as the sweater came off, spilling down her back, over her shoulders and breasts. Daryl gathered the strands that fell to the front and put them to his face, breathing deeply. The soft vanilla scent that was Hallie filled his lungs and blurred his senses. His hands moved to her back, quickly unsnapping her bra, letting his fingers play against the soft skin of her shoulder blades, tracing little circles down the length of her spine. Up and down his hands roamed until they slowly moved to the sides and around to the front, sliding the straps down, removing the simple white bra and tossing it aside.

Hallie's eyes were closed now. Damn, she didn't know how long she could take this. He was moving so slowly, so methodically, she knew he was doing this by design, making her want him more with each caress, each touch. Building her desire. She brought her hands to his forearms as he traced over her nipples with his thumbs. "God, Daryl. Please." she whispered, leaning her forehead against his.

Hallie grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled up, bringing it over his taught stomach, to his chest. He stopped and helped her pull it off, tossing it behind him. She ran her hands over his chest, brushing across his nipples as he sucked in a breath quickly. She leaned forward and kissed his chest, open mouthed, letting her tongue linger, tracing circles and arcs all over his skin.

Daryl pulled Hallie's hips forward towards him, to the edge of the seat, and moved his hands to her skirt. He let his hands fall to her legs, starting at her ankles, running them up the smooth skin from her calves, past her knees, to her thighs, taking the skirt up with them. He grabbed the thin material and pulled it up to her waist, exposing her cotton underwear, feeling the heat already rising from between her legs. He ran his fingertips over lace at the waistband and pressed his lips together. Fuck me, white cotton panties, the thought, better than anything he'd seen in any underwear catalog or girlie magazine. Nothing was sexier than a girl in white cotton panties. Except for maybe a girl taking off those white cotton panties.

Hallie's eyes were closed, her hands on his shoulders. Daryl moved his hands to her knees and slowly pulled them apart, bending his head down to her thighs, kissing them, tickling with his goatee, using his nose to press into the soft flesh between her legs. He rested his hand on her and slowly rubbed the knuckles of his two fingers down and back up, causing Hallie to shudder and grip his shoulders more firmly. She leaned her head back and rested the back of her neck on the back of the chair.

Daryl continued to rub, back and forth, painfully slow, until the fabric became damp and a darker spot appeared. Hallie's breathing became shallow, her grip on his shoulders more forceful. He stopped and gently hooked his fingertips into the waistband of her panties, pulling them down, wriggling them down her butt, gliding them down her thighs and off her legs. Daryl started at her ankle, kissing a line up her leg, nipping at the flesh, gently pulling it between his lips, slowly, reaching the inside of her thigh well above her knee and gently pushing her leg over his shoulder. He turned his attention once again to the area between her legs, now exposed. He bent down further, running his tongue from back to front, letting his tongue part her, moving slowly back and forth from side to side. Hallie let out a loud gasp and grabbed his hair with both hands. "Oh, GOD!' she cried and moved against his mouth.

Hallie looked down at him as Daryl looked up from between her legs and grinned, his blue eyes twinkling. "Please," she moaned, "Now?" her voice dry as she tried to scoot back and pull his head up, indicating she was ready for him.. Daryl shook his head,, his mouth still on her, gliding across her, which made her moan more. "No..." he whispered, his tongue making a long leisurely stroke, "No talking."

Daryl continued with Hallie like this for several more minutes, his tongue twisting, twirling, moving around, in and out, until he could tell by her breathing and her movements against his mouth that she was close. The fact that she was crying "stop...stop...oh my God, stop..." over and over as a good indication as well. Daryl carefully slipped his index finger inside her as far as it would go and he felt Hallie start to tremble. He withdrew it slowly as he rubbed his thumb over her sensitive spot, making her arch her back and grab the seat of the chair with both hands.

Daryl moved her leg from his shoulder and stood up. He unbuckled his jeans, barely able to slide them down over his erection. It was clearly obvious he had enjoyed that as much as Hallie. Daryl wrapped both of Hallie's legs around his waist and lifted her up, turning and sitting back down in the chair with her top of his lap as he entered her in one deft movement.

Hallie threw her head back, letting her hair fall behind her. "Oh, Jesus, Daryl." she called out, putting her hands on his shoulders, pushing herself up and back, rocking her hips. He had his hands on her waist, moving her up and down on him, moving in unison, their rhythms matching perfectly. Daryl looked at her as she moved on top of him. Her breasts moving up and back., nipples hard. Her hair cascading over her shoulders, swinging with their movements. Her cheeks flushed, tiny beads of perspiration on her upper lip. Her lips open slightly to exhale, then pressed together tightly. Her hands clamped down on his shoulders, gripping tighter as she increased the speed of her movements to match his.

He closed his eyes and sped up faster now, the change in their pace driving them both closer to the edge. Daryl was hanging on by a thread now, concentrating, trying to hold back until he was sure Hallie was right there with him. He held his breath until he felt her begin to contract around him. Hallie moaned his name loudly and arched her back, clasping her hands around the back of his neck, her release sudden and intense. He could feel her whole body shaking. He grasped her hips and pulled he down on him, exploding inside her as he came, lifting her up, almost leaving her, and then bringing her down hard on him again. Hallie shrieked. "Stop it!" she laughed. "Stop it, you're killing me." still twitching and breathing hard, her hands on his chest. Daryl continued to convulse, panting hard, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Here lies Hallie Jane. Fucked to death." he laughed and opened his eyes, pushing her damp hair out of her eyes.

Hallie rocked forward to kiss him as Daryl twitched inside her once more. "I can't think of a better way to go." she said smiled , squeezing her muscles together making Daryl shudder once more.

XXXXX

Daryl and Hallie spent until early morning like that, each time better than the last until finally Hallie told him she was spent, she absolutely could not go on any further. Daryl rolled off from on top of her and laid on his side pulling her to him. "I'm not sure I'll be able to walk in the morning." she giggled, turning to face him. "That's not good. Apparently you made me a Mommy tonight. I'm not sure I'll have the energy."

"Whaaat?" Daryl asked, his eyes wide.

"Monica." she reminded him.

"Oh, right. We're keeping her."

"Daryl, she's a little girl, not a stray puppy."

"I know. But she ain't leaving with that bitch, that's fer' damn sure. She loves you an' you love her. I've watched ya' ta'gether. Besides..." his voice trailing off. He looked at her and cocked his head sideways, closing one eye. "She may be the closest thing ta' a kid we'll have."

"Are you mad that I didn't tell you." she asked, afraid of the answer.

"No. Not mad. Surprised, yeah. Hell yeah. But s' ok. World ain't exac'ly a decent place ta' raise a baby no more."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It just never seemed to be the right time. I wanted to, lots of times, but-"

"I know. It's ok." he said softly.

Hallie snuggled against Daryl's chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Within minutes they were both deep asleep.

When Hallie awoke, it was light out. Daryl was gone, his boots still next to the bed, shirt and pants gone. There were no noises from the rest of the house. It was early. The only sound was a faint scraping sound from down the hall. Hallie threw on one of Daryl's t-shirts and found her underwear. She slipped out and down the hall to find Daryl, barefoot, on his hands and knees, scooping out the fireplace, sifting through the ashes, putting them in a black garbage bag. His hands were black and gray and there was a slight haze in the air around the fireplace.

"Daryl, Baby, are you ok? What the hell are you doing?" she asked, kneeling beside him next to the hearth.

"Lookin'." he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Fuckin' A!" he smiled as he pinched something shiny between his index finger and thumb. He wiped it off on his jeans and reached for Hallie, his ashen fingers leaving dirty streaks on her skin.

"Dude!" she yelped, trying to pull away from his dirty hands, not realizing his purpose. He grabbed her hand and pulled towards him intently.

Daryl grinned as he slipped the gold band back on Hallie's finger. "Mine." he said, gazing at the her finger.


	10. Judgment

**Thanks for reading...AND REVIEWING, hint hint! Sorry it's been so long...other pressing things to do.**

**Chapter 10: Judgment**

The group looked around at each other with a fair amount of trepidation. Rick had convened them back together about an hour after Daryl and Hallie had left. Rick asked Verna to stay in her room until they all had a chance to talk. She was upset, crying, but she agreed to stay put.

"Rick, you know I never meant for any of this to happen." she sobbed. "I...I don't know what got into me. I...I would normally never do anything like this." she continued to pull at the wadded-up tissue in her hand.

"Verna, I think it's a little late for apologies."

"I know, but I just want you to know. I don't know what came over me. I don't even know what I saw in him. I...I guess I just didn't want to be alone. I didn't intend to hurt anybody."

"But you DID, Verna. Several times, in several ways. What you did was damn dangerous. You'd be in jail under normal circumstances, on numerous charges." Rick said bluntly. "I really don't think this is the time. Maybe perhaps the group will want to hear your side of the story."

"I don't think so. I don't think they like me. They've never liked me. I could really have fit in here, really made a home, if it weren't for..." she stopped herself abruptly.

"Go on, Verna, if it weren't for what?" Rick said, hoping she'd take the bait and continue. Rick was waiting to her whether she said if it weren't for what she did or if it weren't for Hallie getting in the way. Rick was desperate to know if her remorse now was real or if that too was a lie.

"Oh, Rick, what does it matter? They will never trust me now. They won't let me stay, I can see it on their faces. I might as well just leave." she turned on the waterworks again.

"Now, Verna, you don't know that. You don't know what they're going to decide, so just stay put. Please, for your own safety, stay here until one of us comes for you." Rick said, turning and closing the door behind him.

XXXXX

They had never had to make this decision before. There were plenty of times that they would like to have been able to, especially after Merle had done or said something really outrageous, but they never got to that point. Not this far. Now they were deciding people's fates.

"You all realize what a difficult position we are in." Rick started the discussion. Heads nodded and bobbled. "Let's look at the situation. We took in three people, fed and clothed them. Shared our home and supplies with them. Now we have some decisions to make. First off, let's talk about Monica. That should be a good place to start."

Lori stood up. "I know that she's bonded with Hallie more than the rest of us. Daryl obviously sees that too, or he wouldn't have said what he did. I think to stay here is the best thing for her. She has other kids here and she's safe, she's not out there on the run from walkers and god-knows-what."

"I agree." Carol spoke up, a little waiver to her voice. "I've seen them together. She really seems to have taken to Hallie and since she has no parents at all..." her voice became quiet..."I think Lori's right. "

Andrea and Dale were also shaking their heads to affirm they were in agreement.

"Well, Ted, what do you think?" Dale asked. "She was with your group. You know she's welcome to stay but we'd like to hear from you."

Ted spoke up. "I don't know the first thing about raising kids, much less a little girl. I've never been around a lot of kids before, so, honestly, I would be relieved if she could stay here...with Hallie... and Daryl. She needs a mother most. It'd be the best thing for her." he said, looking down at his shoes. "I'd like to ask if I could stay as well."

"Well, now, Ted, that's our next topic of discussion." Rick looked around at the group. "Does anybody have any concerns or issues with Ted staying?" Rick knew the answer already from their faces. Not a person spoke up, nor did anyone look away or down. They were all looking straight at Ted. "Ted, we know that you're not responsible for Verna's behavior, but you need to know that if we find out that you were in any way complicit with what she did, you may not be welcome here anymore." Rick warned.

"I understand. I had nothing to do with what she did. I...I didn't even know what her plans were until she used me too. I don't blame you all for being skeptical but please, know that I would never be a part of that- I couldn't do that to anyone." Ted was leaning on the back of a chair for support. "Please, I hope you will all believe me and I hope that if you allow me to stay, I can regain your trust." He looked around to the group.

"Ok, everyone in favor of Ted staying, raise your hand." Rick said. All hands went up. "Ted stays." he said without smiling. "Now," he said, frowning, "for the more complicated matter."

Dale rose again. "I think, since Verna's not in here at the moment, we should each have a turn and discuss this, really think it through. This is not a decision to be taken lightly, people." he said.

One by one, they took turns laying out their feelings and thoughts about letting her stay or forcing her to leave.

"How can we trust her not to do something as outrageous as this, or worse, next time?" Andrea said. "She's demonstrated she's willing to do almost anything to get what she wants. Next time will she actually hurt somebody?"

"I don't think that takes it far enough." T-Dog added. "To me, she DID hurt somebody. She gave two people drugs, then put them together, all to get a man she doesn't even really know? That's evil, man, just evil."

"I don't trust her. I will never trust her. What's next? Would she try to hurt Monica to get back at Daryl and Hallie?" Lori mused.

"I don't like this at all." was Dale's contribution. "She went after Hallie when she was most vulnerable, at her weakest. She violated several moral codes with her actions. She proved herself to be untrustworthy, deceptive, not at all the type of person we would want to have with us."

"I agree with everything everyone's said...but can we turn her away? What kind of people are we then? Are we any better than she is, if we do that?" Carol said quietly, gaining everyone's attention. "Are we willing to condemn her to what could be her death out there?"

"But Carol, what did Verna think was going to happen to Hallie if her plan had worked?

What if next time she goes after one of the kids for something?" Lori said. "What if it's Sophia next time?"

"If her plan had worked," Dale said, his voice almost in a whisper, "losing Daryl would have sent Hallie over the edge. She was that fragile. I don't know if she would have been able to recover." Everyone in the group knew what he was implying. "It could have been tragic."

Carol paled and put her hands on her head. "I don't know. I just don't know what to do." she murmured.

Rick stood again. "Ted, we need your take on this. You came here with her. You surely got to know her before. Did you know here before the outbreak? What kind of person is she really?"

"Uhm, no. I'd never met her before I met up with her and Big Mike. I'd seen her around town and I knew her by, well, reputation. Kinda wild, if you know what I mean. Big party-er. Not somebody you'd bring home to your Mom." Ted said, looking around at the group. "I've never seen her act quite like this. She would flirt and act all helpless when she wanted something, sometimes she'd get real mad and scream and cuss, but nothing like this...and she never paid that much attention to Monica, even after her parents were killed."

"Ever lie?" Rick asked bluntly.

"Who, me? No, I'm not lying about this, I swear..."

"No, Ted, Verna. Did you ever catch Verna in a lie?" Rick shook his head.

"Oh, no, well, none that I know of. But then, if she was lying, she was good enough she didn't get caught." Ted said, his eyes looking up as if he was trying to search his memory for something.

"Well, now, I think it's time we took a vote." Rick said. We'll do this blind, so nobody has any hard feelings. Write it on paper. Stay or go. " he said, passing around pieces of paper.

XXX

Rick read aloud the words from the paper. No one was making eye contact. The group was silent.

"Go. Go. Stay. Go. Stay. Go. Stay. Go." he said slowly. "Looks like everyone's made up their minds. Verna will be leaving." Rick looked at T-Dog and nodded for him to go get Verna from the Admin building bedroom she had been sharing with the other unmarried women. "We'll take her where she wants to go and leave her with plenty of supplies in a safe place. We just won't kick her out the gate and let her fend for herself."

XXXXX

T-Dog burst through the door with a deafening crash. "She's gone. Her stuff's gone, she's cleared out." he said, breathlessly. Rick looked around at the horror on everyone's face.


	11. Verna, Barbie and Meatloaf

Content warning: You better be "M" to read this chapter all the way through.

I don't own any of the WD characters, yada yada, we all know the spiel...

**Chapter 10 Verna, Barbie and Meatloaf**

Rick and Glenn ran to the garage building to make sure that the camp vehicles were still all present, while T-Dog and Ted went to the porch to make sure that everyone's personal vehicles were still accounted-for. Nothing was missing.

"Damn it!" Rick swore. "She's on her own, walking, in the dark. No provisions, no weapons."

The four men returned to the mess hall and began to plan. They had no intention of bringing her back, they just wanted to find her, make sure she was safe and give her enough supplies to send her on her way. They even argued amongst themselves as to if they should offer to drive her some place. In the end, they decided that they would try to find her tomorrow, starting out at first light. They would set off in groups of two, if they found her, they would radio the others and then find out Verna's plans and go from there.

XXXXX

Daryl and Hallie woke the next morning, showered and got dressed. They both admitted that they were anxious to hear what the group had decided to do about Verna. Hallie was uncharacteristically on the fence. On one hand she wanted Verna to pay and pay dearly for all she'd done. On the other, felt just a bit guilty if they put her out, even more so if Ted felt the need to go with her. "She didn't try to kill me, she was just desperate-she wanted you. If they kick her out and she gets bit, I'll feel responsible."

Daryl, on the other hand, was not entirely convinced that the rest of the group would have the balls to do what he thought needed to be done. "Seriously, Hal? No tellin' what she'd a done 'n tha' end. For fuck sakes, she drugged ya'...AND Ted!" Daryl had no qualms about it and flatly said "They NEED ta' fuckin' vote her crazy ass off tha' island. Now. Before she does anymore damage."

The couple made their way slowly to the mess hall. Stopping at the door, Daryl pulled her to him and kissed her quickly. "You 'n me. 'Member?"

"Nope. You 'n me 'n Monica now." she reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot." Daryl stopped and chuckled. "Does this make me a Dad now?"

"Uhm, yeah kindasorta!" she laughed. "Does that make me a MILF?"

Daryl stopped and thought, scratching his goatee with his fingers. 'AbsoLUTEly! How 'bout now?" he leered, his hands moving to her butt.

"How about you open that door and we get on with this?" Hallie smacked his chest playfully. "I'm doing good to just walk this morning."

XXXXX

Everyone was in the mess hall, in various stages of breakfast or morning coffee. The mood was noticeably tense. Lori and Rick were huddled, heads together, talking quietly. Dale and Ted, Carol and Sophia were at another table. Hallie handed Daryl a cup of coffee and poured herself one. Daryl fixed himself a plate and offered one to Hallie. She shook it off and walked out to the main area. She slid in next to Andrea at a table and looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Well?" she asked the thin blonde.

"She's gone. Took off last night when we were deciding what to do. Don't know where she went, but the guys are going to go out looking for her in a little bit."

"So you guys voted to keep her, then?" Hallie asked, sipping her coffee slowly, trying t absorb Andrea was saying.

"No. That's the ironic part. We didn't. We voted 5 to 2 that she leave. I guess she knew it was coming somehow."

"Then why are they going to go save her?" Hallie was confused now. "Let her go." she said flatly. "Good riddance."

"What the hell, people?" Daryl had been listening as well. He looked around and set his scrambled eggs and biscuits down, the plate clattering on the table. "I ain't gonna' go lookin' for that ho'." he said, his chair scraping the floor loudly. "Not after what she did, no fuckin' way. Y'all 're crazy if ya' think I'm gonna lift a finger to help that bitch." He continued eating.

T-Dog looked across the table. "We gotta. You don't have to if you don't want to but we gotta.' Rick figures while were out, we may as well make a run into a town to pick up what we can find. No sense in wasting the gas."

Hallie looked at Daryl. "You are going." she said flatly.

"Fuck if I am!" he looked at her indignantly.

"No, your happy ass is going to get in your truck and hit the road. With them. I don't care if you find that bitch or not, we need little girl stuff. A youth bed. Clothes. Toys." Hallie snapped. "You see Verna you can run her over for all I care, but we have responsibilities now."

"Hallie..." he protested.

"No, Daryl, either you go or I will." she slammed her fist down on the table, making T-Dog jump a bit and then try to hide a smile.

"No fuckin' way that's happenin'. You fuckin' know I ain't gonna' let you go." Daryl said loudly, standing up. "Fuck that!" he said, pointing his finger at her.

"Then you best get your shit together and get ready." she purred, smiling and cocking her head sideways a little. "And don't you dare bring back a fucking Barbie doll, either, or those plastic boobies are the only ones you'll be playing with for a long time."

Daryl was headed for the door and turned around to Hallie. He looked at her, his blue eyes flashing and shook his head, exasperated. Turning back, he exited the mess hall with an audible "Shit!"

XXXXX

Daryl started up the pick-up and gunned the engine. The driver's side door was open. Hallie walked up, laying her arms on his thighs and looking up at him. She could tell he was still half-pissed about her telling him he needed to go.

Daryl looked down and then looked back up to the windshield without saying anything. Hallie brushed his crotch, sliding a hand from one thigh to the other and he broke into a grin. "Stop it, I'm tryin' to be pissed off at ya'."

"You can't and you know it. You know I'm right too." she grinned. "Daryl. Be careful." she said, her mood suddenly turning serious. "I love you too much to lose you."

He bent down and kissed her forehead. Turning in the seat, he put his legs on either side of her shoulders and pulled back on her hair, pulling her head back so he could kiss her more easily. "I love you too." he whispered, his lips on hers now, kissing her hard, his tongue parting her lips, slowly and tenderly meeting hers. He finished, nearly breathless, and pulled back slightly. "Mmmmm." he growled in a low voice. "I gotta go. Hard to steer with a hard-on." he said, twisting back under the steering wheel.

"Moving Monica in our room, s'at ok?" Hallie asked.

"Yeah, guess so..." Daryl scratched the back of his head, "but how's that gonna' work? We can't fuck with a... a kid in the same room."

"No, we can't. That would be very bad. Wrong." Hallie mused. "I guess we'll just have to find other places and sneak off." Hallie looked at Daryl with wide eyes, blinking slowly and biting her lower lip. "Like, the garage or the woods? Or maybe, your truck?" she asked. "It'll be just like high school." she said, stepping back from the door and slamming it shut.

"Well in that case," he said, licking his lips "I'll meet ya' in the parking lot after last period."

XXXXX

The men wound their way down the road, weaving in and out of abandoned cars, taking out the occasional walker, until they had gone about an hour to a small subdivision on the outskirts of a town. The houses were all newer, nicer, probably pricier. Definitely a place for upwardly-mobile young families. Just the place, Daryl thought to himself, to find some good stuff for Monica.

There had been no sign of Verna. Ted and T-Dog had gone the opposite direction as they left the gate, only to travel a few miles and turn around, catching up to the rest. They saw no indication of Verna either. It was if she had just vanished. Rick was not so convinced and he had put Dale on alert before they left, advising him that he was not to allow Hallie or Monica out of the building. Rick was worried that Verna had hidden somewhere on the grounds and was planning something when they were all gone. She had left too easily, too quickly, for his comfort level.

The group pulled their vehicles in front of a small grocery store. It's windows were boarded up and front door chained. Rick took a bolt cutter from his vehicle and quickly snapped the chain, pulling it from around the door handles with a heavy clunking sound. He and Daryl stepped in, one after the other, with the rest of the men following. The smell was horrible-rotten, spoiled food. There were no walkers inside, only the stench of the food...and something else. Something bad. Natural death. In the business' small office on one side of the building was the decaying body of a man, slumped over the desk, pistol still in his hand. The stench was gut-wrenching, as was the thought of the man who thought there was no other option than to take his own life. Daryl closed the door, his arm over his face to try to lessen the stomach-churning stench.

XXXXX

"Dale, seriously, think about it. We don't know what happens to them at all. Why couldn't we." Hallie argued.

"Hallie, it's just..." Dale paused. "It's unethical. It would be wrong."

"Why, Dale? They're dead. They have no brain functioning other than the brainstem. There's no consciousness other than their drive for food. They told you that at the C.D.C." she paused. "How is it unethical. They're eating people. They're eating US. We're no longer at the top of the food chain. We have to know what happens." her voice was low, almost a whisper.

"I don't know, it just seems wrong." Andrea said, refilling her cup of tea and making the used bag bob up and down with the spoon.

"I know it does. But what if we learn something valuable. Look, we aren't scientists. We can't do autopsies or dissections, we're just trying to find out what happens. Right now we have no clue how it works. Maybe it will help us fight them."

Lori looked at the group. "What can it hurt? Like Hallie said, they're already dead. We'll never know unless we try. I say we talk to the guys about it."

Carol had her head down and had not spoken a word. "Where would we?" she asked quietly. "How could we make sure we were safe if we did?"

"Away from the buildings. Something sturdy, something that could be locked and stay locked. Something the kids couldn't see or hear." Hallie said. "I know this is bizarre. It's creepy. It scares the hell out of me. It scares me that I even came up with this whole idea. But you guys, these ain't exactly normal times we're living in. We've seen and done stuff we never thought we were capable of. We're fighting for our lives on a daily basis. This is a mystery for us and if we can figure out even one small thing we can use to fight with, so be it." she said calmly. "Do I really have to say it? It's us or them."

Andrea looked at Dale. Lori shook her head up and down slowly. Dale drew in a breath slowly. "Well. You've talked me into it. Let's talk to the guys tonight after dinner."

XXXXX

The men worked for several hours, filling their vehicles with cases of food and supplies, working in teams, with either Daryl, Rick or T-Dog standing guard outside, alert for walkers. When they couldn't cram any more in or pile any more on, they decided to move on to scout out some of the houses. The second house they came to had a pink tricycle on the front porch. Daryl knew he had hit the jackpot before even going in.

The men went around back and found the doors unlocked. They walked in and split up, each taking a floor. Daryl carefully crept up the stairs to the second floor bedrooms. Rick and Ted searched the main floor, Glenn took the attached garage and T-Dog took the basement. Daryl's search of the bedrooms uncovered two rooms, one decorated in pink, one in purple. The family apparently had two young girls. "Jesus." he whispered to himself. There was just so much stuff. Stuff he had no idea about. Toys, clothes, all kinds of little girl...stuff. No Barbie dolls, however. Hallie would be thrilled. He wondered briefly what she had against Barbie.

He walked back downstairs to Rick and Ted. "I gotta get Hallie up here." he said. "We'll come back tomorrow. Load up the truck. Bring stuff back for Monica and Sophia."

"Not thrilled with you two going out on your own." Rick said. "Take somebody else with you."

"No." Daryl insisted. "We'll be fine." The group left, but not before marking their position on a map that Glenn had been keeping. It held the locations of everywhere they'd been before and brief notes as to what they'd found. Places with a lot of walkers were marked with red Xs.

They drove quickly, straight back to the camp. No one noticed the small, dark brown Toyota following them far behind, driving slowly, being careful to not be seen.

XXXXX

Hallie reached the truck before Daryl was able to shut the engine off. She pulled open the door and almost leaped in, throwing her arms around him. He pulled her up and to him, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her hungrily. They didn't stop for what seemed hours. When they did, Hallie brushed a lock of hair from Daryl's eyes. "Unload?"

Daryl nodded his head. "Lotta' shit today. Gonna' take a while."

It took until well after dark to unload the vehicles. Afterwards, the men ate dinner, exhausted and pleased with their day's work. Daryl explained the second house to Hallie and asked her if she would be willing to go. He knew the answer before he even asked. Of course she wanted to go. She was dying to get out, he knew that, and he knew that she would not be a liability. He'd seen her handle a bow before, she was pretty good, and the couple times that he'd seen her fire a gun, he had been impressed. She told him that she had learned to shoot for work, mostly reproductions of antique guns that the museum owned. Still, she was a real good shot.

"Good." Daryl said. "We'll go tomorrow." he stood up. Daryl looked at Hallie, his eyes dark. She knew what he wanted. "Ten minutes" he said and headed for the door.

Hallie's breath quickened with anticipation. She asked Lori to watch Monica for about an hour and headed to the admin building. She changed jeans and put on a soft sweater. Hallie found a tube of bubblegum flavored lip gloss in the box of makeup she kept in a drawer. Brushing her hair out, she put it up in two long pigtails at the side of her head. She grabbed a backpack and headed out the door to the truck. As she grew closer, she could see Daryl's shadow leaning against the hood, the cherry-red end of his cigarette glowing in the darkness.

Daryl turned when he heard her footsteps coming down the drive. He watched her walk closer and closer, the backpack slung over her shoulder, her pigtails swinging with her steps.

"Hey Daryl." she said softly. "Can I have a ride home? I missed my bus."

Daryl took a deep drag from the cigarette and tossed the butt on the gravel driveway, twisting the toe of his work boot to snuff it out.

"Well, I dunno. What you gonna' do for me?" he said, looking her up and down. Damn, he thought, his pants suddenly becoming uncomfortably tight. Her sweater was unbuttoned to show more cleavage that he was used to seeing on her. It hugged her breasts and stopped just short of the top of her low-cut jeans. The hair made her look like she was definitely under age. She walked closer to him, close enough to smell the sweet bubblegum flavor of the lip gloss, close enough to see the glimmer on her lips.

"Daryl Dixon," she laughed, "you are a bad boy." She sat the backpack down and put her hands flat on his stomach, moving the slowly up his chest to his neck, pulling him to her. She kissed him on the lips softly, teasing him, running her tongue up the side of his neck. He could taste the sweet flavor on her lips.

Daryl picked Hallie up by the waist, her legs wrapping around his. They continued to kiss as he sat her in the truck and climbed in afterwards, pulling the door shut behind him. His hands went under her sweater, running this fingers over her nipples, pinching lightly, kneading. "Fuck, woman, you are amazing." he said, breathlessly, trying to lift the sweater over her head.

"Now stop, Daryl, you know I don't go all the way." Hallie moaned, pulling away. "Just part of the way." she teased, her hand dropping to his belt. She pulled on his legs, motioning for him to put them on the seat. She continued to work on his buckle, unfastening it, unzipping, her hand reaching into his jeans. She grasped him, already hard, and moved her hand slowly, caressing, squeezing softly.

"Off." she said pulling roughly on the waistband of his jeans. "Now." she commanded.

Daryl shimmied his jeans down, taking his boxers down with them. He laid back on the seat, his hands behind his head. "Do your worst." he teased.

"Uh-huh. My best." she whispered, as she bent over him, taking him all in, drawing him out slowly, her tongue curling around the very tip as he slipped out. "Mmmmm." she growled. Hallie worked her way up and down, kissing, caressing, running her tongue up and down, her hands squeezing and kneading his balls. She changed speeds back and forth from quick to torturously slow as Daryl moaned and grabbed the door handle, his eyes clamped shut. "Watch me." she said. "I want you to watch me."

Hallie opened her eyes to make sure Daryl was watching. His eyes were absolutely on fire and he licked his lips as their eyes met. Hallie took him in all the way, as far as she could and curled her lips under, keeping her teeth from scraping him. Then she drew him almost all the way out and sucked hard on the very end, making circles around the head, stopping on the tender area on the outside, moving her tongue back and forth there for a bit, then continuing with the circles and long strokes. She kept up this rhythm, driving him almost to the edge. Daryl watched her work, his breaths coming quickly now, his stomach muscles hard. Hallie's eyes were closed and in the faint moonlight, he could see a slight smile on her face.

Hallie put her hand at the base of his shaft, moving it up and down to mirror what her mouth was doing. It was more than Daryl could take. His hands flew to the back of her head and tangled in her hair, guiding her to go faster, further, as he felt himself lose control. His hips bucked and he jerked, her mouth still moving on him, spilling himself into her. Hallie slowly withdrew from him and continued to kiss and caress him with her lips and fingers, causing him to jerk and twitch.

Daryl sat up and pulled her up with him. With a dramatic flourish, she wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand and grinned. "Oh my GOD!" Daryl sighed. "This reminds me of that old Meatloaf song."

Hallie giggled. " Paradise by the Dashboard Light."

Daryl laughed when she said it. That was it exactly. "Did you know how to do that back high school , for real?"

"Lord, no." she smiled. "That's just for you." She sucked in her breath as his hands reached under her sweater. "Daryl." she moaned as she pulled off the sweater and straddled him. "Let's go all the way." She unbuttoned her jeans and he held her up to she could pull them down. They made out for a while until it was clear to Hallie that he was ready again. She rose up and guided him into her slowly, easily. She was more than ready.

"Woman," Daryl said, panting as they moved together, "if I'd a' known ya' in high school, maybe I woulda' actually gone to class."

Hallie closed her eyes and rocked her hips, her hands clamped on his shoulders to help her move up and back. "Baby," she said, pressing her lips together briefly and trying to catch her breath, "if I'd known you in high school, trust me, we would have been in your truck more than in class.'


	12. Christmas

**Sorry to leave you hanging for a week. Been really busy. Thanks to everyone for following and for the faithful reviewers. YOU know who you are and I love you for it! If only everyone who reads would leave a review...it would make me happy and you know what happens when I'm happy - Daryl gets...happy. Reviews also make me write faster and update more often, so when you get to the end here, just keep that in mind! **

**Chapter 12 Christmas**

"So. What do you think?" Hallie looked at Rick, her eyes wide. She was trying to guess his thoughts. "You think it's too gruesome?"

"Well." he said, pausing to think. The plan that Hallie had put forth was gruesome, no doubt. But it was interesting. "There's a lot to think about."

"Principles, being a big thing. Plus, it's not a complete plan. I have no idea how we'd get one without compromising our safety to some degree , to a big degree. What we'd keep it in, I have no idea either. But, well, I just don't know. She stopped for a second and scratched her head. "Maybe it's just too far out there. Maybe it's just my morbid sense of curiosity."

"Geez, Hallie, it's an interesting thought, for sure. You're right. We don't know what will happen when the walkers run out of food. They seem to be almost at that point now, if not, it's coming real soon. There are hardly any more people for them to feed from. Plus, animals they can easily catch are gettin' scarce now too. We know they don't feed off of each other. Inherently, you're right, we need to know how long they can last without food...but..." Rick's voice trailed off.

Hallie curled her fingers around the coffee mug, enjoying the warmth. "I know...that's where my moral compass starts going haywire too."

The two sat in silence for a while, both thinking things through.

"How would we capture one?" he said.

"Lure it in to a van with something, lock it in and then we could transport it to wherever, I guess."

"And where would we keep it? How would that work?"

"Good question. Some kind of pen or something. It would have to be safe, sturdy, walker-proof. Something out where the kids wouldn't see it. I know they'd probably not sleep knowing there was one around. We'd need something that would keep it from seeing us, as well. Smell, I figure we can't change. It'll smell us no matter what. But seeing, that's another matter. If it sees us, it might get agitated and try to bust out." Hallie stopped.

Rick was silent again. She could watch his face and tell that he was deep in thought, carefully considering each aspect of her proposal.

XXXXXX

Hallie and Daryl took off mid-morning in the truck. Daryl gave Hallie the Mossberg as a precaution. He really didn't want her to use it, it was pretty loud, and attracted a lot of walker attention, but it did pack quite a wallop. He knew she could use it, he'd see her pump it and knew she was more strong enough. He watched her carry it to the truck from the Admin Building. Holy cow, he thought, my woman dressed like a ninja, with a shot gun that's almost as big as she is. That is the hottest fucking thing I've ever seen. Well, no. Daryl thought about their evening in his truck and decided it was the second hottest thing he'd ever seen.

They drove halfway to the town before either of them spoke. He watched her as he drove, her long hair twisted into a bun and pinned down tight. Her clothes were dark, black turtleneck sweater and black skinny jeans, they fit tighter than she normally wore. He'd made her wear them to keep her safe-loose clothes and hair could easily be grabbed by walkers. He could tell she was uncomfortable in the clothes by the way she kept tugging at the neck of the sweater. She was fidgety, nervous, he surmised.

As they drove, she pulled her legs up on the seat and turned towards the window, watching them weave their way up the county two-lane. There were very few walkers out and about.

"What?" he finally said, no longer able to stand the silence.

"What what?" she said, turning her head to him.

"You're too quiet." he said, shaking his head.

"Got a lot on my mind." she sighed and turned back to the window.

Daryl was silent for a few more minutes. "What did I do?" he finally said, biting the proverbial bullet.

"Hum? " she said, obviously far away. "Oh, no, you didn't do anything. I'm just thinking, that's all. Sorry."

"What 'bout?"

"Everything. Monica. Walkers. Ted. Verna." she said, scooting over next to him on the bench seat and kissing his shoulder. "I'm just thinking about a lot of stuff."

"What're ya' thinkin' 'bout Ted?" he said, looking at her sideways.

"Well, for one thing, how you two are gonna' get along ." she said. "I don't want you to be pissed at him. None of this was his fault."

"Yeah, but he was on top o' ya'." Daryl swallowed dryly, thinking maybe he should have kept his mouth shut and enjoyed the quiet after all. "Ya' were both naked. I din't like that then, still don't now. "

"Daryl, neither one of us knew. We were unconscious until you woke us up. Neither of us were aware of anything. Besides. It wasn't his fault." she laid her head on his arm and spoke softly, slowly.

"Din't say it was either of yer' faults. I just don't like it that y'all were layin with each other all night, you know, all naked an' shit." He looked at her and bit the skin around his thumbnail, his hand sideways in front of his mouth. "Gonna' be hard ta' fer'get that."

"You WILL forget it, Daryl, because I'm asking you to. Ted was being used. He doesn't remember any more than I did. So you gotta' get over being mad at him, ok? Please?" she said, blinking slowly, looking right in his blue eyes. "I'm asking you to. If you don't blame me, you can't blame him."

"Fuck." he said under his breath. "Ok." he exhaled deeply, swerving to avoid a pothole in the road. "What else ya' worryin' 'bout?"

"Monica."

"Why?" he asked, surprised. "You're good with that kid. I'm the one tha' should be worryin'. I don't know nothin' about lil' girls."

"I guess I'm like you. I don't know anything about kids either. I'm scared I'm gonna her screw up for life."

"Hal, are ya' freakin' kiddin'? Most of the world's population r' zombies tryin' to eat us an' you're worried 'bout bein' a good parent? Serious?" Daryl said, laughing.

"Stop laughing at me, damn it." she frowned, thinking about his comments. She smiled a bit, realizing he was right. It was ridiculous. Good parenting nowadays was mostly centered on keeping a kid from being bitten. Child development theory pretty much was out the window. Doctor Spock and James Dobson were probably eating people by now. She smiled wider and then laughed a bit. "Yeah, you maybe right."

"You love that kid?" he said.

"Yeah. I guess. I dunno'. She's a good kid and it breaks my heat to think of her not having a Mom, ya know? Or a Dad." she said, rubbing his leg. "I feel like I should be responsible for her for some reason."

"Hormones." he grinned. "I get it. " he said, kissing her hand. "You'll do good with her. Ya' already do."

"Daryl?" Hallie asked. "Can we not even talk about the other one?"

"Sure. She's gotta be dead now anyway. No way could she make it out there by herself." He leaned over and kissed the top of her head, keeping his hands on the wheel.

They drove in silence, the rest of the way, Hallie's head on Daryl's shoulder.

XXXXX

They pulled up to the house and Daryl whipped the truck around, backing it up to the garage door. They sat, watching for signs of walkers. There was one two doors down, standing in the front yard, it's gray rotting head cocked upwards, listing to a bird in a tree overhead. Daryl exited the truck and crossed the front yard, moving swiftly towards the walker. The walker was absorbed in the sound the bird was making as it warbled. Daryl whistled and the walker turned towards him. Lifting his crossbow, he sent a bolt straight through its eye socket. It dropped with a heavy thudding sound and Daryl walked quickly to retrieve his arrow.

Hallie looked around before exiting the cab of the truck. When she was certain the coast was clear, she hopped down and walked on to the front porch and picked up the tricycle, inspecting it carefully. It was perfect. Little plastic streamers from the handlebars, pink beads in the spokes to make noises, a wicker basket on the front and a little squeeze horn. Mental note - that horn has to go, she thought.

Daryl met Hallie at the garage door and lifted it up, lowering it behind them as they stepped inside. They exchanged glances and went into the house, Daryl first, crossbow at the ready. They went through the lower level first to make sure that there were no intruders, checking door locks and windows. Hallie stopped and looked at a photo on the piano in the living room. Two happy smiling parents, both in their thirties, with two small tow-headed girls on their laps, their faces freshly- scrubbed and matching dresses ironed to perfection. The girls looked to be about 3 and 7 in the photo. Hallie couldn't help get a lump in her throat wondering where they were now...wondering what they were now. She shook her head and looked at Daryl, who was standing at the foot of the stairs. He motioned for her to come on as headed up.

The brown Toyota parked at the end of the street, well out of sight of the truck. The driver crouched down below the steering wheel, making sure not to be seen. After a few minutes, grabbing the rifle from the passenger seat, the driver slowly opened the door and scooted out, making sure that there were no walkers around before closing the door as quietly as possible. Moving from vehicle to tree to building, using anything as cover, the driver headed towards the house with the pickup truck backed up in front. The driver moved to the abandoned minivan in front of the house next door. The view was clear. Hunkering down inside, it was time to sit, waiting for the just the right moment. Patience now would pay off.

Hallie got to the top of the landing and looked in at the master bedroom suite at the top of the stairs. It was neat and tidy, tastefully decorated in soft, pale green. She went to the closet and found clothes baskets and then started in on the dresser drawers, removing jeans, tops, socks, anything that the women in camp could wear. Daryl worked on the closet and the husband's dresser, doing the same with the man's clothes. He opened the nightstand drawer on one side of the bed and chuckled to himself. He emptied the contents into a gym bag he'd found in the top of the closet. Holding up the bag, he pronounced "Anything you want just fer' us, give it ta' me-it goes in this bag."

Hallie finished in an hour. She had filled both of the large laundry baskets and had another pile of shoes in a large box. She wandered into the hallway and found the large linen closet. Pulling out blankets, sheets, towels, packages of bar soap and bottles of shampoo and lotions, piling them together on the hallway floor. She returned to the master bath and did the same, pulling out everything of use, including medicine and prescription bottles.

Daryl grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hall to the children's bedrooms. Hallie was dumbstruck. with the amount of toys, games, all sorts of things. They were both decorated similarly, one in pink, the other in purple. One was obviously for the older daughter. Hallie began to comb through things, keeping in mind that space was not unlimited back at camp. She found games that all three of the children could play, a few dolls, crayons and coloring books, puzzles, things that would occupy both Sophia and Monica... and books. Hallie took every book she could find in both bedrooms. Daryl proceeded to disassemble the small pink bed with a screw driver.

While she was finishing up in the children's bedrooms, Daryl went back downstairs to start on the kitchen. Hallie joined him and then went to the basement where she found more supplies and toys. Daryl turned his attention to the garage and the small workshop it held, combing through tools, nuts and bolt, nails, etc.

It took them about four hours to work their way through the house and load up the bed of the truck with the boxes and bags. Daryl backed the truck into the garage and they loaded up. When they were done, the returned to the kitchen and stopped briefly to snack on some granola bars and dried fruit Hallie had found in the pantry. Daryl brought out a bottle of red wine and they took turns drinking from the bottle.

"Well? Was it worth it?" he said, wiping crumbs and wine from his lips with his fingers.

"Are you kidding? I feel like it's Christmas. Wait until we roll up and those kids see all this stuff!" she laughed.

Daryl nodded. "An' all the wine. I put four cases in the truck already. Plus some scotch an' " Daryl wiggled his eyebrows, "...a big bottle a' real good tequila."

"And you put THAT in your little goodie bag, didn't you?" she said, smirking. "You thought that would be just for us, huh? You know what tequila does to me."

"Believe it!" he said, pressing her against the cabinet next to the counter they'd been leaning on. "That 'n a few other goodies I found." he grinned and licked his lips. "We'll have ta' find us a babysitter, though." he said, leaning in to kiss her roughly. "I'm thinkin' 'bout doin' ya' right here, though." he said, his voice low and gravelly. "Right now." he said, his hands moving to the button on her jeans.

"Daryl." Hallie said. "Stop. I'd like to let you, Baby, but we just can't. Not here. It's not safe. We gotta get back. It's getting late and we don't want to be on the road after dark." she said, her hands catching his and pushing them away. She tilted her head upwards and smiled. "Tonight. Anything you want." she whispered. "I promise."

Daryl rubbed the back of his neck and then looked up at her, his head still down. "I'm a' hold ya' to that promise, Missy." he grinned. With his other hand, he rubbed down her stomach, continuing down to her crotch, the heel of his hand upwards against her, fingers curling slightly when he'd reached as far as he could go. Hallie gasped softly and moved against his hand. She put her hands on his stomach and pushed him slightly backwards.

"Tonight." she said firmly as Daryl threw back his head and laughed. He was pleased at himself that it took no more than it did for him to get to her, make her want him. He squeezed a bit and then released his grip on her.

They walked together to the garage. Hallie started to open the garage door as the first bullet shot past her and landed in the back wall. Daryl yelled "What the FUCK?" as he pushed Hallie down to the floor. As he turned towards the cab to retrieve the crossbow he'd left on the seat, the second bullet hit him in the side, above his hip. He put his hand over the wound and pulled it back, blood was now everywhere on his shirt, his hand, the garage floor.

"Hal?" he said quietly, dropping to his knees as she screamed his name. "Shit." he said as he fell forward.


	13. Justifiable

**Chapter 13: Justifiable **

(Verna's POV)

Well, shit. I wasn't going to stick around and wait for them to kick me out. Fuck that! I didn't do anything wrong. I did what I had to do to get what I wanted. Nobody can fault me for that, not now, not after what has happened with this world. While they were all standing around, wringing their damn hands, DISCUSSING MY FATE, as if they had a right to discuss it, I packed my bag and got the hell out of Dodge. No use sitting around. Those idiots. Couple of them are so stupid, they probably would vote to keep me on, you know, wanting to still be human, wanting to be all moral and upstanding. Ha! It's the apocalypse. Life is over and it's dog eat dog now. The way I figure it, I'm gonna be top bitch in these parts, so they can all just kiss my ass. I'll show them.

When I left, it was pretty dark. Sneaking out was a piece of cake. The fools left me alone. God, they're so dumb! They were all in the mess hall and they left me in the bedroom. I could hear Daryl and that bitch screwing, I just knew what they were doing from the sounds coming through the wall. That should have been me he was fucking. They shoulda' been HER they were getting rid of, the useless piece of shit. Instead they were talking over whether or not to push ME out. Well, I'll show them. I'll show them all.

She can't even defend herself. Glenn told me how Daryl found her, how he rescued her. He thought it was all romantic-like, he's such a pussy. Not me, I can see right through her. I know she wanted to be there and even that old man knew it. She stayed there of her own free will. She was probably with those guys before this all happened. Daryl just fell for her bullshit. But I ain't. She didn't fool me one little bit.

When I left, I ran hard for the main gate. Climbing the chain link fence wasn't that hard. I threw my bag over and then just climbed up and over the top. I had to be careful and be quiet, though. There would be walkers around since it was night. I moved from vehicle to vehicle when I could, using the trees on the shoulder of the roadway as cover. I didn't see many walkers, just a couple and it was easy for me to hid under a car or dodge back in the woods as they passed. Stupid walkers.

I had walked for about a mile and I came on some kind of an SUV. The passenger side door up front was open and so was the back door. On the seat I saw a gun. Verna, I said, you may just be the luckiest woman alive. I grabbed it and looked around. The SUV looked like it had been packed for traveling. Probably somebody wanted to get the hell out of town quick and head to the country. There was some food still in boxes, blankets and the gun. It was just a rifle but it had a scope. I knew how to fire a gun. Big Mike had showed me lots of times. This one was no different. There was some ammunition laying on the floor in front of the seat, so i threw that into my bag and grabbed one of the blankets. It was getting colder now, hour by hour, as I walked.

In another mile, I spotted a group of five or six walkers ambling, like they were out for some sick, dead midnight stroll. There was a small dark car to the side of me, so I climbed in and locked the doors. The keys were in the ignition. I turned the key just a bit and could see that there was gas still in the tank, according to the gauge. Fuck, I am lucky! I laid down on the front seat and covered myself with the blanket. I was cold and I didn't want any walkers to see me. Hopefully it would hide my smell from them too. I dozed off as they continued to mill around.

I awoke with a jolt. It was sunny and the car was starting to heat up big-time. The heat wasn't what woke me up, thought, it was the sound of vehicles. Moving towards me, then along side of me, then up ahead. I kept down and didn't move a muscle. Once they were a bit up the road, I stuck my head up. Holy shit, it was the guys from the camp. The rear vehicle was that sheriff, Rick, and that dumb-ass Chinese kid, whats-his-name, Gary? Greg? Glenn. That' was it. Little shit was kinda cute, doable, but just too young for me. Probably could have taught him a thing or two, I guess, but why bother when I had Daryl there? And I would have had Daryl, too, if that little whore hadn't gotten in the way.

They were traveling slow, going around cars and walkers. I let them go for a good while and then turned the key and the engine turned over. The car was pretty quiet, I could follow them without being spotted if I was careful, so that's what I did. They stopped at a convenience store, looted it, and then went on to a bunch of yuppie houses. I could see my Daryl and Rick talking out front. They were loaded for bare so they didn't stay long. A couple of the guys went next door and were carrying stuff to the trucks, but before long, here they came. I had pulled off and parked half off in the ditch, behind another, making it look like the Toyota was abandoned. I hope it worked and they didn't notice that this was the second time they'd drove past a little brown Toyota.

Their convoy drove past. I gave them about a mile and a half and then pulled out and started following behind them, slowly. Creeping along. I knew where they were going now. I just had to cool it and not attract any attention.

When the slowed to open the gates of the camp, I let them go in and then I backed into an old farm road and pulled back, so nobody could see me from the road until they damn near passed me. It was the perfect hiding place. When it was dark, I left the vehicle and walked the fence to where it was closest to the buildings. I could see them moving back and forth between buildings. Daryl was smoking a cigarette outside his truck and then the bitch joined him. She had her hair in two pigtails, how stupid. They got in the truck and that was all I could see until they got out about an hour later. Probably fucking her. What a whore. If he wanted to screw in his truck, I'd taken care of him days ago.

I went back to the Toyota and curled up, finishing some crackers and Slim Jims and a bottle of water. I found a little notebook in the glove compartment and started to doodle, to pass the time away. I made a list of all the ways I wanted to kill that little bitch and all the reasons why I should do it.

The next morning I got out to go pee and almost got my ass nailed. As I was leaning on the side of the car, I heard a truck coming up the road. Shit! I didn't have time to make it into the vehicle and shut the door without being seen, so I crouched behind the back bumper, trying to make myself as low as possible. When it passed, I snuck to the edge of the road and looked towards the sound. It was a truck. Daryl's truck. He was driving and there was only one person in the truck with him...and fuck if it wasn't the little bitch leaning against the other door. They were probably fighting. I HOPED they were fighting. She doesn't deserve him. Maybe he's starting to come around.

I waited for the rest of the vehicles but they didn't come. Christ, they were alone! Just the two of them. Too sweet! I jumped back in to the car and started the engine, being careful to stay far enough behind so they wouldn't see me but close enough that I didn't lose them if they turned off somewhere. But they didn't. They went to the same house they stopped at yesterday.

I parked down the block, in the same place as yesterday. This was too fucking easy. The bitch put the trike into the back of the truck and they both went inside. After a long time, Daryl opened the garage door again and backed the truck in. Probably getting toys for those brats, judging from how she was looking at that stupid tricycle. That was the one thing that little bitch ever did nice to me, taking that shitting little ankle-biter off my hands. Me, somebody's mother. What a fucking crock of shit!

They were in there for a long time, so I decided that they were raiding the house themselves. That could take hours, so I got out of the Toyota and took my rifle and some water with me. I crept up to a mini van what was parked out front on the street at the house next door. I waited for hours, well past noon, seemed like it took hours longer. It was mid-afternoon now, had to be around three or four from the way the sun was lower in the sky. Fuck, if they're screwing in there, I'm gonna kill 'em both. I swear. I've about had all I can take of those two. Seriously, what does he see in her? She looks like one of the kids, she's got that damn red hair, no ass to speak of, and she doesn't even have blue eyes. She talks like a fucking Yankee and she's always using words he probably doesn't even understand, trying to show him up. Plus, she's at least a foot shorter than he is. Fucking her much be like fucking a nine-year-old. He needed a real woman. He needed...me. Why couldn't he see that?

If they were going to leave, it would be soon, so I left the van and hid behind a shrub near the drive. Pretty soon I heard voices and scraping. They were getting ready to leave, so I made my move. I stood up and walked a bit closer to the garage. As the door went up, I was ready. I aimed at the bitch, she was standing in front of him, but damn it, I missed. She screamed and I took another shot.


	14. Reprisal

**I can't leave you all hanging...**

**Chapter 14. Reprisal**

_They walked together to the garage. Hallie started to open the garage door as the first bullet shot past her and landed in the back wall. Daryl yelled "What the FUCK?" as he pushed Hallie down to the floor. As he turned towards the cab to retrieve the crossbow he'd left on the seat, the second bullet hit him in the side, above his hip. He put his hand over the wound and pulled it back, blood was now everywhere on his shirt, his hand, the garage floor._

Hallie sat up and rolled Daryl over on his back. He was bleeding from his abdomen. He looked at her and grimaced. "What the fuck?" he said, his teeth clenched. Hallie pulled the shop rag from his back pocket. She balled it up and put it in his hand, pressing it to the to the wound to try to slow the blood flow.

"Press here. Hard. Don't let up." she said. She turned back towards the shooter. Verna was standing now at the garage door, the rifle pointed right at Hallie's head.

"Get away from him!" Verna screamed. "Get the fuck away from him!"

"No fucking way, you psycho bitch!" Hallie stood up. "He's not dying because of you."

"That's exactly what's going to happen. I'm gonna make sure he dies. You're not going to win. He should have been mine. He was gonna' be, but you got in the way, you fucking little whore. Now I'm gonna' make sure you don't get him neither." Verna was screaming still, her face red, her eyes were black with rage. She kept motioning towards Daryl with the rifle. her finger still on the trigger.

Hallie stiffened. "Oh, what, if you can't have him nobody can? You're insane. That's fucking insane, Verna. You wanted him so bad. You didn't get him and now you want him dead? You crazy bitch!" Hallie clenched her fists at her sides.

"He made his choice and now he's gonna' to pay for it. You're gonna' pay too, trust me. Him dying is the last thing you're gonna see, you little slut." Verna took a step closer to Hallie.

"Verna." Daryl coughed. "Why? Why did you do this to me? I tried to find you but you left. Why did you leave me? " His eyes were closed and his face was contorted in pain as he croaked out his words. He raised his hand to her. "Please. Verna. I didn't want it to be this way. I..." he gulped a breath, "...I wanted you."

Verna rushed past Hallie, half knocking her over, and knelt down next to Daryl. She laid the rifle next to her and bent over him, grabbing his hand and kissing his knuckles. "Daryl, Honey, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know. You didn't tell me. I thought you hated me."

"I couldn't tell them." he whispered. "I had to make them think that. I...had to hide it until we...we could plan together..."

Hallie was dumbstruck as she watched Verna smother Daryl' face with kisses and smooth his hair. Daryl looked at Hallie as Verna bent over his chest, looking at his wound, moaning "What have I done?" over and over. Daryl opened his eyes and looked at Hallie. His eyes were glassy now. With his free hand, he pointed a finger towards the rifle that Verna had laid down.

Hallie suddenly realized what he was doing and pounced. She lurched downwards and grabbed the rifle by the butt, pulling it to her. She jumped up, a bit wobbly, and pointed the gun at Verna's head.

"Get away. Get off of him." she commanded. "Stand up."

Verna looked up through weepy eyes, not moving. "I can't." she sniffed and turned her back to Hallie. "He needs me. He wants me here." She bent over Daryl's face. "Tell her Daryl. Tell her you love me."

Hallie poked Verna hard in the back with the tip of the barrel. "I said get the fuck off of him, Bitch. Stand up and step away from him or I'm gonna drop you right here."

Verna stood up slowly and turned towards Hallie, her face twisted and hard. It was like somebody had flipped a switch. "You ain't gonna do nothing. You're too weak. You're" she hissed. "You're scared of everyone and everything. You can't even defend yourself. " She took a step and looked at the gun. "You won't shoot me. You're too scared. You're a victim. Always have been. Always will be. You're damaged goods. Daryl doesn't want someone like you."

Hallie put the rifle to her cheek. "You know, Verna, I've had all I'm gonna take from you." She took a step backwards, mostly to give herself some room. Verna was so close now. "You're right. I was a victim. Lloyd and Emerick made me one and I had no choice. But that's over. They're dead. You tried to take advantage of that, but you screwed up. I'm done. I'm never going to be the victim again. " Hallie aimed the gun at the center of Verna's chest. "Starting right now. This is the only way this can end. You're crazy and if I let you go you're just going to come back over and over until one of us is dead."

"Not if I kill you first." Verna lunged forwards and clawed for the gun as Hallie pulled the trigger. She stopped, motionless for a split second, opened her mouth to say something, her eyes wide, and then dropped to the floor, the blood pooling around her in an ever-widening circle.

Hallie blinked and took another step backwards. She threw the rifle away and jumped over Verna to Daryl. He was still holding his side. His face was sweaty and pale now and his breathing was more shallow. "Daryl. Baby. We gotta get you into the truck. We gotta get you out back to camp."

He closed his eyes and nodded a little. "Yeah." he said. "Ok. Get me up."

Hallie pulled on his arm and shoulder and tried to sit him up. He was still bleeding. She helped him to a standing position, leaning on her small frame. She walked him over to the truck and pushed him into the open door of the driver's side.

"Oh, fuck me." he said, falling forward, moaning as she pushed his feet and legs into the truck. She pushed against his butt, trying to make room for her to slide in beside him and drive. "Fuck, I'm still bleedin'." she heard him mutter.

"Daryl, you gotta scoot over. Baby, help me here." she said, continuing to push. "MOVE OVER!" she yelled. She managed to move him halfway and give herself enough room to steer. She fished his keys from his pants pocket and started up the truck. Throwing it in reverse, the truck lurched backwards, narrowly missing Verna's lifeless body. Hallie hit the street and drove for the camp like a madwoman. She looked at the rear view mirror and saw walkers heading for the driveway she'd just come from. They could smell all the fresh blood but would no doubt be disappointed that the only thing they'd find was Verna's already dead self. She chided herself for being a bit disappointed that she wouldn't get to see them tear the bitch apart.

Hallie looked at Daryl sprawled on the seat next to her. She put her hand on his leg and shook him. "Baby. Stay with me. You stay with me." she pleaded. Daryl moaned and moved his free hand to try to find hers. "Keep your hand pressed down hard." she reminded him. "We'll be there soon. We'll get you fixed up. I promise. "

Hallie drove as hard as she could, but it was difficult weaving through abandoned vehicles. She hit more than one walker in the roadway as she sped towards camp, not even looking backwards to see where they landed. Finally she arrived at the gate, blowing her horn as she turned off the ignition and fumbled for the padlock keys on Daryl's key ring. It could have brought walkers, but she was going to have to chance it.

Daryl was almost unconscious now. T-Dog and Rick heard the horn and ran for the gate as Hallie was able to climb out and try to undo the lock. She worked the lock and chains as fast as she could and then pushed open the two wooden doors with all her strength. She climbed in the truck and started it up. Fuck, she thought, more time she was going to have to waste closing the gate, but she couldn't leave it open for any walker to just wander through.

Rick was first to arrive, running hard in the dim afternoon light.

"Daryl's been shot. Rick help me. He's shot." Hallie screamed, tossing the padlock at him.

Rick yelled for her to go on, he would lock up. T-Dog ran up and jumped in the back, holding on to the tailgate, sitting on top of boxes and bundles. Rick motioned for them to go. Hallie sped up the drive and pulled right up to the porch of the admin building, not even bothering to shut off the engine before she and T jumped out and ran around to pull Daryl out.

Glenn and Dale ran outside to help and between the four of them, they were able to lift Daryl out and carry him inside to the couch. Daryl woke up briefly and muttered "Fuckin', watch it. The bitch fucking shot me." and then passed out again.

Dale and Andrea ran to gather the first aid supplies. Alcohol, clean towels, bandages, anything they could find.

Hallie gingerly pulled the blood-soaked shop towel away from the wound. She rolled him to one side, bringing protests and expletives from Daryl, and looked for the exit wound. There was none. The bullet was still inside.

"Fuck" she whispered. She looked at Dale. "It's still in there. It's gotta come out now."

"Hallie, none of us have any medical training. We don't know the first thing..."

"Doesn't matter Dale, it's gotta come out. However we can. It's gotta come out." she growled. She bent over Daryl and kissed him on the cheek. "Baby?" she said softly.

"Mmmmm." Daryl said through closed eyes. "I heard ya'."

"This is gonna hurt like all get-out. I can't help that. I gotta clean it out and fish out that bullet and then sew you up. It has to be done and I'm flying blind here. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Jes' do it." he said, keeping his eyes closed.

"Ok. Ok, Baby." she whispered in his ear. "I love you."

Hallie stood up and Rick pulled her away from the couch by her arm.

"What did he mean 'she shot me'?" he demanded.

"Fucking Verna, Rick." Hallie snarled. "We ain't got time for this now."

Hallie pulled Daryl's shirt up and over his head and took the bottle of rubbing alcohol that Andrea had sat on the table. She took a clean washcloth from the table and began to clean the wound, wiping blood from it, the pouring alcohol onto the flesh. Daryl tried to roll away from her as he yelled out in pain. T-Dog and Rick held his shoulders and legs. Hallie splashed alcohol on her finger and looked at Daryl.

"Baby. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do." she said calmly. Hallie took her index finger and stuck it in the bullet hole, probing. Daryl roared. About two and a half inches in, the tip of her finger hit something hard. "Ok, I found it." she said, pulling her finger out. "I need something to get a hold on it and pull it out. Something skinny that won't tear the wound open any further, but strong enough to get a grip on the bullet and pull it out."

Ted looked at her. "I have some needle-nosed pliers." he said, turning and running to the mens' bedroom. He came back a minute later. "Here. See if these will work." he said, thrusting them in Hallie's hand.

"We'll try. If they don't work, Andrea can you get me a pair of tweezers?" Hallie asked. "Carol, can you please boil them both? We need to sterilize this stuff."

While they waited for Carol to return with the boiling instruments, Hallie recounted what had happened. Everyone stood around speechless. Hallie knelt next to Daryl, her hand on his.

Daryl opened his eyes again and looked at Hallie. She took his hand and brought it to her cheek. "Daryl. You're going to be ok. It's not near as bad as it could be. I can do this. I know I can do this. You're going to be ok, I promise." she said, kissing his fingers.

"I know. You ain't gettin' rid a' me that easy." he said, squeezing her hand and closing his eyes again.

"I wouldn't ever want to." she said, a tear falling on his hand.

Carol returned with the boiled pliers and tweezers still in the pan of water. Hallie dumped out the water into a towel and covered them in more alcohol.

"Shouldn't we give him some whiskey or something, you know, to deaden the pain?" Ted offered.

"No, alcohol will make him bleed more. It's not a good idea." Hallie shook her head.

"Really could use some whiskey 'bout now." Daryl murmured, keeping his eyes closed.

"No. When you're better you can have all you want. Right now, open your mouth and bite down on this." Hallie stuck a rolled-up washrag in Daryl's mouth.

She took the tweezers and bent over his wound. "Hold him down, everybody. He can't be moving around while I try to do this." Andrea, Carol, Lori and Glenn, Rick, T-Dog and Ted all took legs, thighs, arms, or a shoulder and pressed Daryl into the couch. Hallie slowly slipped the tweezers into the hole and probed again, hitting metal again. The tweezers were barely long enough. She pulled them out and picked up the pliers, their long, skinny points shining, wet with alcohol. "Ok. Here goes."

Daryl bucked and yelled through the washrag as the pliers entered his wound, the alcohol that rolled off dripping searing pain deep inside. She found the bullet and allowed them to open slowly, gingerly, pressing down, opening a little further and then trying to pinch them together, pressing, opening, pinching, trying to get a purchase on any part of the projectile. Finally, she felt them grip something solid and she began to pull upwards. The bullet moved slightly towards her, towards the open wound. She pulled slowly as Daryl moved uncontrollably, holding his breath, his eyes clamped shut. She couldn't make out what he was saying with the washrag between his teeth, but she was sure it was not fit for children or most adults. She smiled a little, happy that he was still fighting and cussing. In Hallie's mind, that was a good sign.

The bullet made a soft squishing sound as she brought it up and out of the wound. It was bleeding again, so she filled the wound with alcohol once more to clean it out and clamped down hard with another clean wash cloth to slow the bleeding. When the alcohol hit the bottom of the wound, Daryl stopped moving. He was covered with sweat and clammy. Hallie was sure he'd lost a lot of blood. She was also relieved that he was no longer conscious so that she could start sewing up the wound once the bleeding had stopped.

She took a pack of presterilized sutures from the first aid kit and began sewing up the sides of the wound, making small stitches on the outside and pulling the sides flush, leaving the stitches towards the inside. She held the wound together further with butterfly bandages and topped it off with sterile gauze, taped down.

Andrea took the pan and bloody wash cloths and towels away and came back with a mug in her hand.

"Here." She handed the mug to Hallie. She held it in her hands, which were now shaking. It was half-full of scotch. "You need this now. Way more than he does. Hell, I think we all could use some."

"Thanks." she said quietly. Dale scooted a chair over and patted the seat, motioning for Hallie to sit down.

Nobody said anything for several minutes. Hallie leaned her head down and rested her forehead on Daryl's thigh, her head turned towards him. She closed her eyes briefly and made the mistake of exhaling. With the breath that she'd been holding for what seemed like hours, came the tears. Andrea rubbed her back and put her arm around Hallie's shoulder.

"He'll be fine. He's one tough bastard. You know that. It's ok. He's going to be just fine." she tried to assure her friend. Hallie nodded slowly.

Rick leaned over and put his hand on Hallie's back. "Hallie." he said softly. "Daryl will be alright." he said, patting her gently. "You did an amazing job."

Hallie shut her eyes tighter and let the tears roll, making a wet spot on Daryl's pants leg. It was the first time she'd been able to stop and catch her breath since they were in the garage. So much to think about. She'd killed another person. A living, breathing person. She might lose Daryl. She had her fingers inside him and she'd sewn him up like some sort of a stuffed animal. Her mind raced over everything. Too much to try to sort out. After a few minutes, hand ran through her hair.

"Hal." Daryl whispered, opening his eyes.

Everyone surrounding the couch let loose with a greeting or a cheer of relief.

"Let's go get some dinner. Everybody out." Lori said quietly, pulling Rick and Glenn towards the back door of the administration building and looking around at the others.

"Hey." Hallie said, sitting up, scooting her chair up closer to his head.

"Ya' got tha' bullet out?" he asked.

"Yup. Sure did. Sewed ya' up and all." she said, wiping tears away and trying to smile. "You'll be right as rain in no time."

"Cool." he said. Daryl tried to sit up and grimaced. Hallie pushed him gently back down on the couch. "It hurts like a motherfucker." he whispered.

"No shit, Sherlock." she laughed, hiccupping. "It's gonna for a while. You got a big ol' hole in you. You're gonna have to take a lot of antibiotics to keep away infection. Would you like me to find you something for the pain? I think we probably could round up some vicodin."

"Nah. Right now, I jes' want you." he said, his hand reaching out for her.


	15. The Last Man on Earth

**Chapter 15 The Last Man on Earth**

Hallie slept in a chair next to the couch that night, waking about every half hour to check on him. Daryl slept peacefully, thanks to finally agreeing to a couple pain killers that Andrea had in the first aid kit. The next day, he was able to walk, with some help and a lot of grumbling, to their bedroom. He was tired and sore but doing better. Hallie checked the wound frequently for signs of infection or more bleeding and said a prayer every time she found none. His appetite was good and after a few days, Daryl was beginning to show signs of returning to normal. She knew he was on the road to recovery when he started getting snarky about little things. Hallie bit her tongue, knowing that arguing wouldn't make either one of them feel any better.

The others had unloaded the truck and marveled at the massive amount of toys and games for the kids. Hallie was struck by Monica's behavior. Instead of diving into the pile of stuff and grabbing everything she could, she picked out several books and loaded them under her little arms, returning to Hallie's room to sit next to Daryl on the bed.

Hallie had peeked in and watched as Monica patted Daryl's arm and scooted up next to him. She opened one of the picture books and said, "I read to you." and began to explain what was happening in the pictures. Hallie melted at the sight of it. Daryl propped up on pillows, his hair ruffled and messy, Monica's head resting on him, the book open on Daryl's lap, the two of them pouring over the pictures, Daryl asking questions and pointing out things to Monica. Daryl looked up from the picture book to see Hallie looking around the door at them, beaming, and he rolled his eyes, turning back to the page and pointing at something saying "Well, what's he doin' there?" as Monica jabbered on.

Hallie closed the door quietly and walked down the hall. She sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace, tucking her legs up under her. Dale looked up from the book he was reading in the big chair.

"Everything ok?" he asked.

"Everything's pretty damn perfect." she said, smiling.

XXXXX

Daryl laid on his back, propped up on two pillows, his hands clenching the balled up sheets. He was sweating and his heart raced. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth together, his jaw tight, his breath coming in short gasps. The agony was unbearable.

"Fuck!" he said through his teeth. "Fuckin' damn it. Son of a BITCH!"

"What's that you said?" Hallie stopped and looked up at him from between his thighs, her eyes narrowed, her lips curled into an evil grin. "You want me to stop?" she feigned innocence.

"Damn it, Woman. Don't stop." he said, breathlessly. "Don't stop."

"Don't stop? or Don't. Stop." she teased, bringing her tongue from the base of his shaft to the very tip in one slow movement.

Daryl growled and grabbed at her hair, trying to push her head back down. "Don't stop. Don't ya' dare fuckin' stop!" he pleaded.

Hallie giggled and began to torture him again, slowly, knowing just where to apply pressure, just when to back off, working him back to the brink, this time finishing him off as his breath hitched and he arched his back, thrusting into her mouth and squeezing his thighs around her shoulders.

When she was done, she put her shirt back on and pulled his boxers back over him, slowly, making him jump a final time.

"Yer' damn lucky I'm still fucked up." he said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her towards him on the bed. "Yer' gonna be in so fuckin' much trouble."

"Yeah? Tell me about it. Slowly. In detail. Use...your...words." she teased, as she ran her tongue up the side of his neck, ending at his earlobe, where she nipped and then drew it into her mouth and sucked lightly, running her tongue over the edge.

Daryl pulled away sharply. "No." he said. "No more. Not 'til I can fuck ya' proper."

"Daryl Dixon, there is nothing PROPER about the way you fuck. At...all." she said quietly, her eyes turning dark, smoldering, her voice low and husky. "You are hot and nasty and dirty and you make me want to do things I'd never do with anybody else. You make me wet just thinking about what you're going to do to me every night and when you touch me, you make me come so hard I lose my mind. You are a baaaaad boy, Daryl Dixon" she said, "...and I love it."

Daryl grinned and bit his thumbnail. "Really?" he said, looking at her, his blue eyes burning.

"Really." she said, taking his face in hers and kissing him softly on the lips.

XXXXX

Daryl made his way to the mess hall, his side still a bit tender, but otherwise mended. There would be a scar but it would be minimal. He sat down in a chair and Hallie brought him a cup of coffee and a plate of breakfast, returning to the kitchen with just a quick kiss. Daryl had slept late-everyone else had finished breakfast and the kids were playing some kind of board game in the corner while Hallie finished cleaning up.

Daryl started to eat. He looked down and noticed something sticking out from under his plate. A piece of paper. He pulled it out and unfolded it. It was in Hallie's handwriting.

"Daryl-

Six months ago you found me, you saved me, you gave me back my life. I went from being thankful and grateful to loving you within a matter of a few short minutes. You have cared for me, protected me, made me feel special in every way.

My heart skips a beat when I hear your footsteps. Your touch makes me shiver and your caresses make me melt. Sometimes when you call my name, I can't breath and the feeling when we move together, when you're inside me, words can't begin to describe.

You have shown me each and every day what it means for a man to be fierce, brave, and loyal and yet still be kind, gentle and loving. Your strength, both physical and emotional, is remarkable. You can make me laugh or cry with just a look. Watching you with Monica makes me only love you more.

So, my darling, my handsome hunter with a cross bow, my blue-eyed angel, I want to tell you that you make me feel so incredibly lucky, so blessed. I want to tell you just how much I love and adore you. You truly are the last man on Earth and I am so eternally thankful that you are mine.

H."

Daryl folded the paper and put it in his back pocket. He sat there a minute to process Hallie's words. He'd never had a girl say anything like that to him before, not even close, much less write it down. He took a deep breath and stood up, wiping his eyes and blinking a bit, before he walked into the kitchen.

Hallie was standing at the sink, her hands in the water. He walked to her and put his hands on her waist, turning her around to him. She had been crying, her mascara was smudged and her cheeks were flushed. He lifted his hand and gently with his thumb, wiped away a bit of the black under the corner of her eye. He took her face in his hands and kissed her gently. There was no need for words.


End file.
